Rod Monroe (born August 20, 1942) is a Canadian-born American politician who served in the

Oregon Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

, representing District 24 in the middle part of

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

, which includes most of eastern Portland and the city of Happy Valley.

Early life and education

Born in McBride, British Columbia, Monroe was raised in Oregon and graduated from Portland's Franklin High School in 1960. He attended college at Warner Pacific University and received bachelor's and master's degrees from Portland State College (now

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the next ...

) in 1965 and 1969 respectively.

Career

He became a teacher at Tigard High School in

Tigard, Oregon Tigard ( ) is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 54,539 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Oregon, 12th most populous city in Oregon. Incorporated in 1961, the city i ...

in 1965, teaching history and government and later served on the David Douglas school board. In 1976, Monroe was elected to 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 ...

, representing District 12 in Portland. He served two terms and then was elected to the

in 1980, representing the 7th district in Portland. He was re-elected to a second Senate term in 1984. During this legislative tenure, Monroe was known for sponsoring safety-oriented legislation, such as mandatory seat belt laws, tougher drunk driving legislation, and bans on indoor smoking. Monroe ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1986 U.S. Senate election in Oregon, but came in second behind Jim Weaver. In 1988, he lost a close election in the Democratic primary to Oregon House Majority Leader Shirley Gold, who had been elected to Monroe's seat when he was elected to the Senate. In the 1990 Democratic primary, Monroe sought to upset incumbent Judy Bauman for a seat in the Oregon House, but he was narrowly defeated. In 1992, Monroe was elected to the council of Metro., the regional government for greater Portland. He served three terms, where he advocated for federal funding of

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

projects and the

Portland Streetcar The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon, that opened in 2001 and serves areas surrounding downtown Portland. The NS Line runs from Northwest Portland to the South Waterfront via Downtown and the Pearl District. Th ...

, as well as for biking and pedestrian trails such as the

Springwater Corridor The Springwater Corridor Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian rail trail in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It follows a former railway line from Boring, Oregon, Boring through Gresham, Oregon, Gresham to Portland, Oregon, P ...

. In 2004, he was defeated for a fourth term by environmentalist Robert Liberty. In Oregon's 2006 legislative elections, Monroe was again elected to the Oregon Senate in the District 24 seat vacated by the retiring Frank Shields. In 2018, Monroe ran for reelection but was defeated in the Democratic primary by former state Representative Shemia Fagan. Fagan ran unopposed in the general election later that year and won the election to become Monroe's successor in the state Senate.

Personal life

Monroe lives in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

with his wife Billie.

Electoral history

References

External links

Legislative website

Project VoteSmart biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, Rod Living people 1942 births Oregon state senators Members of the Oregon House of Representatives Politicians from Portland, Oregon Portland State University alumni Warner Pacific University alumni People from the Regional District of Fraser–Fort George School board members in Oregon Franklin High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni Schoolteachers from Oregon Metro councilors (Oregon regional government) 21st-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly