James Ivory Manning Jr. is an American politician and veteran. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served in the

Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the State legislature (United States), statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ther ...

since 2016. He represents the 7th district, which covers parts of Lane County, including Junction City and northern

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

. Manning unsuccessfully ran for Secretary of State in the 2024 election.

Military service and early career

Manning worked as a state correctional officer and police officer prior to enlisting in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

in 1983. Manning spent 24 years on active duty in the Army, and retired in 2007.

Political career

After retiring from the military, Manning moved to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lane County, Oregon, United States. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie River (Oregon), McKenzie and Willamette River, Willamette rivers, ...

, and became part of the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs. In 2012, he was elected to serve on the Eugene Water and Electric Board.

Oregon State Senate

Manning unsuccessfully ran for a seat 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 ...

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 ...

, losing to

Julie Fahey Julianne Elizabeth Fahey ( ; born June 18, 1978) is an American Democratic politician serving as speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. She represents the 14th district, which covers parts of Lane County, including Veneta and western ...

in the 14th district Democratic primary. He was appointed to the Senate in December 2016 in order to fill the seat vacated by Chris Edwards, who resigned from office. Manning was elected to a full term in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

unopposed. He was elected once again in the 2022 election. As a legislator, Manning supported efforts to expand automatic voter registration and to authorize prepaid envelopes for Oregon's mail-in voting system.

2024 Oregon Secretary of State run

On September 13, 2023 Manning announced his candidacy for Secretary of State in the 2024 election, facing current state treasurer

Tobias Read Tobias Read (born July 1, 1975) is an American politician who is currently serving as the 30th Oregon Secretary of State since 2025. As a member of the Democratic Party he served as the 29th Oregon State Treasurer from 2017 to 2025. Before that, ...

in the Democratic primary. During the campaign, Manning touted his support for raising election funding in order to provide security for election workers. During the campaign, he trailed behind Read in fundraising, with the former raising $630,000 against the $203,000 raised by Manning as of April 25, 2024. Read ultimately defeated Manning.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website

Legislative website
African-American state legislators in Oregon Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Democratic Party Oregon state senators 21st-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Eugene, Oregon United States Army soldiers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American politicians Candidates in the 2024 United States elections Lincoln University (Missouri) alumni Chapman University alumni Grand Canyon University alumni {{Oregon-politician-stub