Eric Werner Reschke (born 1965) is an American businessman and Republican politician currently serving in the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

. He represents the 55th district, which covers parts of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

and Klamath counties, including parts of

Klamath Falls Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city wa ...

Biography

Reschke was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

(1965), grew up in

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...

and graduated from Sunset High School (1983). He graduated from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

(1988) with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Degree in Business Administration. After graduation he worked for

Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of Tissue paper, tissue, Pulp (paper), pulp, paper, toilet and paper towe ...

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...

, and

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...

in the Portland metropolitan area before moving to Klamath County in 2001. Reschke was a board member of the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce from 2012 until 2016 and was elected to the Oregon State House in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. In the election, he earned 48.77% of the vote, defeating Democratic candidate (and former Klamath County Commissioner) Al Switzer and non-affiliated candidate Jonah Hakanson. In 2018 Reschke was reelected earning 71.8% of the vote over Democratic challenger Taylor Tupper. In 2020 Reschke was re-elected earning 71.7% of the vote over Democratic challenger Faith Leith. On December 11, 2020, Reschke and 11 other state Republican officials signed a letter requesting

Oregon Attorney General The Oregon attorney general is a statutory officer within the executive branch of the U.S. state, state of Oregon, and serves as the chief legal officer of the state, heading its Oregon Department of Justice, Department of Justice with its six op ...

Ellen Rosenblum Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 17th Oregon Attorney General from June 2012 to December 2024. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously wa ...

join Texas and other states contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election in Texas v. Pennsylvania. Rosenblum announced she had filed in behalf of the defense, and against Texas, the day prior. On a January 17, 2024 National Association of Christian Lawmakers livestream with host Jason Rapert, Reschke said Christians "are the types of people you want in government making tough decisions at tough times. You don’t want a materialist. You don’t want an atheist. You don’t want a Muslim… You want somebody who understands what truth is, and understands the nature of man, the nature of government and the nature of God." He went on to say "we have a lot of people who are godless, unfortunately, leading the way, and it’s the blind leading the blind". The

Freedom From Religion Foundation The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for atheism, atheists, agnosticism, agnostics, and nontheism, nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and ch ...

objected to his comments in a letter from

Annie Laurie Gaylor Annie Laurie Gaylor (born November 2, 1955) is an American atheist, secular and women's rights activist and a co-founder – and, with her husband Dan Barker, a current co-president – of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. She was ...

. The

People for the American Way People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

Right Wing Watch People for the American Way (PFAW ) is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Organized as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, PFAW was registered in 1981 by the television producer Norman Lear, a self-described liberal who founde ...

objected to his comments, as did Kayse Jama, a fellow member of the Oregon legislature who is Muslim.

Personal life

Reschke is married and has one son. The family attends Calvary Chapel Church in Klamath Falls.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reschke, Eric Werner Politicians from Beaverton, Oregon Politicians from Klamath Falls, Oregon Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly Judson College (Alabama) alumni Oregon State University alumni 1965 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Sunset High School (Beaverton, Oregon) alumni Christians from Oregon