Brad Avakian
Brad Avakian | |
---|---|
Oregon Senate from the 17th district | |
In office January 2, 2007 – April 8, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Charlie Ringo |
Succeeded by | Suzanne Bonamici |
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 34th district | |
In office January 2, 2003 – January 2, 2007 | |
Preceded by | Charlie Ringo |
Succeeded by | Suzanne Bonamici |
Personal details | |
Born | Bradley Paul Avakian February 4, 1961 Fresno, California, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Deborah Avakian |
Education | Oregon State University, Corvallis (BA) Lewis and Clark College (JD) |
Website | Official website |
Brad Peter Avakian (born February 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Oregon House, the Oregon Senate, and as the state's nonpartisan elected Labor Commissioner.
He was appointed Labor Commissioner by
In 2016, he was the Democratic nominee for Oregon Secretary of State and was defeated by former state representative Dennis Richardson.
Early life
Born in Fresno, California, he is the son of Larry and Catherine Avakian. He is of Armenian descent. His grandfather was Avak Avakian, who came to America from Muş in 1898. His grandmother, Sirpoohi Antoyan, came from Bitlis in 1900.[2]
Avakian was raised in
Avakian then worked as a
Political career
Avakian ran for the
Avakian was elected to represent District 34, on Portland's west side, in the Oregon House of Representatives in 2002.[6] He defeated Portland police officer John Scruggs,[7] the only Republican to lose in Washington County that year,[6] with 53 percent of the vote.[8]
Avakian was elected to the
While in the legislature, Avakian was honored by both the Oregon
In July 2007, Avakian announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Oregon Secretary of State.[9] He later withdrew from the race when he was appointed by governor Ted Kulongoski to be Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries in early 2008 after Dan Gardner announced his resignation.[1] Gardner was the first Commissioner of Labor and Industries to leave mid-term for a new job.[1]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Brad_Avakian_with_supporters.jpg/220px-Brad_Avakian_with_supporters.jpg)
In April 2011, Avakian announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Oregon's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.[10] The seat was held by fellow Democrat David Wu, who resigned from Congress before the end of his term due to allegations of sexual misconduct.[11] Avakian lost in the Democratic primary to Suzanne Bonamici, who succeeded him in both the Oregon House and Senate.
In July 2015, Avakian
On November 8, 2016, Avakian lost his bid for Oregon Secretary of State to Republican Dennis Richardson, the first time a Republican was elected to statewide office in Oregon since 2002.[15]
Avakian announced in July 2017 he would not seek reelection to a third full term.[16]
Electoral history
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Brad Avakian | 17,835 | 96.6 | |
Write-in | 635 | 3.4 | ||
Total votes | 18,470 | 100% |
Oregon State Senate 17th District Democratic Primary Election, 2006 [citation needed] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | Brad Avakian | 7,180 | 63.12 |
Democratic | Sam Chase | 4,171 | 36.67 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 24 | 0.21 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Brad Avakian | 31,612 | 67.2 | |
Republican | Piotr Kuklinski | 13,497 | 28.7 | |
Libertarian | Richard Whitehead | 1,445 | 3.1 | |
Constitution | John R. Pivarnik | 371 | 0.8 | |
Write-in | 89 | 0.2 | ||
Total votes | 47,014 | 100% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan
|
Brad Avakian | 690,000 | 67.2 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Pavel Goberman | 184,919 | 18.0 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Mark Welyczko | 135,666 | 13.2 | |
Write-in | 16,056 | 1.6 | ||
Total votes | 1,026,641 | 100% |
Oregon 1st Congressional District Special Democratic Primary Election, 2011 [citation needed] | |||
---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
Democratic | Suzanne Bonamici | 49,721 | 65.18 |
Democratic | Brad Avakian | 16,963 | 22.24 |
Democratic | Brad Witt | 6,003 | 7.87 |
Democratic | Dan Strite | 1,212 | 1.59 |
Democratic | Dominic Hammon | 923 | 1.21 |
Democratic | Todd Lee Ritter | 651 | 0.85 |
Democratic | Write-ins | 469 | 0.61 |
Democratic | Saba Ahmed | 250 | 0.33 |
Democratic | Robert Lettin | 91 | 0.12 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan
|
Brad Avakian | 681,987 | 52.5 | |
Nonpartisan
|
Bruce Starr | 606,735 | 46.7 | |
Write-in | 9,616 | 0.7 | ||
Total votes | 1,298,338 | 100% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Dennis Richardson | 892,669 | 47.4 | |
Democratic | Brad Avakian | 814,089 | 43.2 | |
Independent
|
Paul Damian Wells | 64,956 | 3.4 | |
Pacific Green | Alan Zundel | 47,576 | 2.5 | |
Libertarian | Sharon L Durbin | 46,975 | 2.5 | |
Constitution | Michael Marsh | 15,269 | 0.8 | |
Write-in | 2,646 | 0.1 | ||
Total votes | 1,884,180 | 100% |
References
- ^ a b c "New labor leader hopes to boost job training in Oregon". Statesman Journal. April 9, 2008.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Brad Avakian for Oregon Archived July 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine: Meet Brad, from bradavakian.com. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j About Oregon's Labor Commissioner Archived September 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine: Meet Commissioner Brad Avakian, from oregon.gov. Retrieved 2008-04-09.
- ^ Don Hamilton (October 19, 1998). "Avakian, Hartung war chests fuel fierce senate seat race". The Oregonian.
- ^ Courtenay Thompson (November 7, 1998). "GOP gains, loses in the legislature". The Oregonian.
- ^ a b Laura Gunderson and David R. Anderson (November 7, 2002). "Vote trends show stronger division from east to west". The Oregonian.
- ^ Richard Colby (November 6, 2002). "Washington County legislative races tight". The Oregonian.
- ^ "How Oregon voted: ballots counted -- 95%". The Oregonian. November 7, 2002.
- ^ Avakian jumps into secretary of state race Archived 2008-03-31 at the Wayback Machine, The Oregonian. July 31, 2007
- ^ Mapes, Jeff (April 18, 2011). "Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian will run in Democratic primary against Rep. David Wu". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on April 21, 2011. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
- ^ "Rep. David Wu announces he will resign after accusations of sexual misconduct". The Oregonian. July 26, 2011. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
- ^ Rede, George (July 2, 2015). "Sweet Cakes: State orders Oregon bakery owners to pay $135,000 for denying service to same-sex couple". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on June 22, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
- ^ Casey Parks (August 24, 2016). "Oregon lawyers: Sweet Cakes by Melissa $135,000 damage award was justified". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
- ^ Friedman, Gordon R. (December 28, 2017). "Appeals Court Upholds Fine Against Christian Bakers Who Refused to Make Same-Sex Wedding Cake". OregonLive. Archived from the original on December 28, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ Mike Rogoway, Dennis Richardson tops Brad Avakian for Oregon secretary of state, breaking Democrats' hold on statewide office Archived 2018-12-19 at the Wayback Machine, The Oregonian/OregonLive (November 8, 2016).
- ^ Friedman, Gordon R. (July 11, 2017). "Brad Avakian, Oregon labor bureau chief, will not seek re-election". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on January 13, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^ "Official Results | November 2, 2004". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on September 10, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ "Official Results | November 7, 2006". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on September 10, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ "Official Results | November 4, 2008". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on September 10, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ "Official Results | November 6, 2012". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
- ^ "November 8, 2016, General Election Abstract of Votes". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved October 30, 2023.