Rep. Emerson Levy, a Democrat, represents a Bend district in Salem. She’s shown here at her home office in Bend on Dec. 23, 2024. (Andy Tullis/The Bulletin)
Children are a top priority for the moms in the Legislature and a big reason why many of them are there.
Take Emerson Levy, a renewable energy attorney in Bend. When she ran for the Legislature for the first time in 2020, she was motivated by her 4-year-old daughter, June. A self-described policy nerd, she wanted to support good policies in Salem, particularly those to protect children.
“I felt this huge obligation to my young daughter,” Levy told the Capital Chronicle.
Levy lost in 2020, but she won in 2022 and now she’s headed back to Salem after winning a second term representing the Bend-based 53th District. She is among several mothers in the Legislature, both Democrat and Republican, who juggle the demands of raising children while representing their communities in Salem. Some even have other jobs as well.
Serving in the Legislature is supposed to be a part time job, with 35-day sessions in even-numbered years and 160-day sessions the others, but the work spills into the rest of the year.