Valerie Anne Hoyle (née Toomey; born February 14, 1964) is an American politician serving as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

for since 2023. Until 2023, she served as the commissioner of Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) (commonly called the "Labor Commissioner"). A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, Hoyle formerly served 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 ...

, representing District 14, which includes West

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 ...

, Junction City, and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. She was appointed to the House in August 2009 and reelected to full terms in 2010, 2012 and 2014. In December 2021, Hoyle announced her candidacy for the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. The seat was open after incumbent

Peter DeFazio Peter Anthony DeFazio ( ; born May 27, 1947) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1987 to 2023. He is a member of the Democratic Party and is a founder of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A native of Mas ...

decided not to run for reelection.

Early life and education

Hoyle was born on

Travis Air Force Base Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 Kilometre, km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, California, Fairfield, i ...

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, United States, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The city has a diversified economy, with government, manufac ...

, in 1964. She grew up in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua () is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. It is on ...

, where her father Dan Toomey was a firefighter, union official, and later a member of the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral State legislature (United States), legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members com ...

. She earned 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

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from Emmanuel College in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Early political career

In 1999, Hoyle and her family moved to

Lane County, Oregon Lane County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 382,971, making it the fourth-most populous county in Oregon. The county seat is Eugene, ...

, where she joined the education advocacy group Stand for Children. Before serving in the Oregon legislature, she worked in sales and marketing for bicycle manufacturers

Burley Design Burley Design (previously Burley Design Cooperative) LLC is a company in Eugene, Oregon, United States that has produced outdoor family products since 1978. Its blue and yellow children's bicycle trailers were among the first on sale, in the early ...

and Cane Creek, and served as legislative aide and policy analyst for State Senator

Floyd Prozanski Floyd Prozanski (born 1954) is an American Democratic politician who is a current member of the Oregon State Senate, representing the 4th District, since 2004. He previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives, from 1995 through 2000 ...

. She was also a director of the

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

of Lane County.

Oregon House of Representatives

Hoyle was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in August 2009 to replace Chris Edwards, who was appointed to the Oregon State Senate. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, she was reelected to a full term, defeating Republican Dwight Coon and

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Kevin Prociw. On November 6, 2012, Hoyle again defeated Coon to win a second full term. Before the 2011 legislative session, Hoyle was elected assistant caucus leader of the Oregon House Democrats. During the 2011 legislative session, she was co-vice chair of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education, and served on the House Committees on Health Care and Business & Labor. She also served on the Governor's Health Care Transformation Team. On November 15, 2012, after House Democrats selected

Tina Kotek Christine Kotek ( ; born September 30, 1966) is an American politician serving as the 39th governor of Oregon since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Kotek served eight terms as the state representative from the 44th district in the Ore ...

as speaker of the Oregon House, Hoyle was elected to lead the Oregon House Democrats as House majority leader for the 2013 Legislative Session. During the 2013 legislative session, she co-chaired the House Task Force on O&C Counties and was vice chair of the House Committee on Rules. Shortly before the 2014 legislative session, former State Representative Chris Garrett received an executive appointment to the Oregon Court of Appeals and Hoyle was named chair of the House Committee on Rules. Hoyle also served as a legislative co-chair of the Oregon Elder Abuse Prevention Workgroup. After Oregon Governor

John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician and physician who served as the 35th and 37th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. In February 2015, shortly after beginning his fourth term, ...

resigned in February 2015, elevating

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 38th governor of Oregon from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th distr ...

to the governorship, ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' named Hoyle as a possible successor to Brown as

Oregon Secretary of State The secretary of state of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in the line of succession to the List of Governors of Oregon, governor. The duties of the offi ...

. Hoyle stepped down as majority leader in 2015 to run for

Oregon secretary of state The secretary of state of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in the line of succession to the List of Governors of Oregon, governor. The duties of the offi ...

. In the 2016 Democratic primary, she came in second place, receiving 33.81% of the vote to Democratic nominee Brad Avakian's 39.06%.

Labor commissioner

In 2018, Hoyle ran to become Oregon's 10th labor commissioner, a nonpartisan elected position. She won the race outright in May, receiving 52% of the vote and winning 17 of 36 counties. Former Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden received 36% and Jack Howard, a La Grande attorney and former Union County Commissioner, received 12%. The Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries serves a four-year term, has offices in Portland, Eugene, and Salem, oversees enforcement of wage and hour laws, including prevailing wage and civil rights enforcement, certifies apprenticeship programs, and provides employment law technical assistance for employers.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2022

On December 1, 2021, Hoyle announced her candidacy for

Oregon's 4th congressional district Oregon's 4th congressional district represents the southern half of Oregon's coastal counties, including Coos County, Oregon, Coos, Curry County, Oregon, Curry, Lincoln County, Oregon, Lincoln, Lane County, Oregon, Lane, and Benton County, Or ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. The seat was held by fellow Democrat and

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

native

, who announced that he was not running for reelection after 18 terms. Polling conducted by

Public Policy Polling Public Policy Polling (PPP) is an American polling firm affiliated with the Democratic Party. Founded in 2001 by businessman Dean Debnam, the firm is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Debnam died in 2024. Tom Jensen serves as the firm's directo ...

in March 2022 found Hoyle to be favored in the Democratic primary. She benefited from more than $500,000 in spending by

super PACs Independent expenditure-only political action committees, better known as super PACs, are a type of political action committee (PAC) in the United States. Unlike traditional PACs, super PACs are legally allowed to fundraise unlimited amounts of mo ...

during the primary. In November 2022 Hoyle was elected to the House.

Tenure

In the House, Hoyle generally voted with the majority of other Democratic members, but there were exceptions. On January 31, 2023, Hoyle was among seven Democrats to vote for H.R.497:Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, a bill which would lift COVID-19 vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. In 2023, Hoyle was among 56 Democrats to vote in favor of H.Con.Res. 21 which directed President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

to remove U.S. troops from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

within 180 days. Hoyle was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 On January 19, 2023, the United States hit its United States debt ceiling, debt ceiling, leading to a debt-ceiling crisis, part of an ongoing political debate within United States Congress, Congress about United States federal budget, federal ...

in the House.

Caucus memberships

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...

Congressional Progressive Caucus The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a congressional caucus affiliated with the Democratic Party in the United States Congress. The CPC represents the progressive faction of the Democratic Party. " e Congressional Progressive Caucus, ...

Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus The Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus (CWRC) is a large bi-partisan Congressional Member Organization in the U.S. House of Representatives formed to support the National Wildlife Refuge System The National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) i ...

Committee assignments

* Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure ** Subcommittee on Highways and Transit *

United States House Committee on Natural Resources The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources or Natural Resources Committee (often referred to as simply Resources) is a U.S. Congressional committee, Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the ...

Personal life

Hoyle lives outside

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Willamette Valley, Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield, OR MSA, Eugene-Springfield metropolitan statistical area. Separ ...

, and is married with two adult children. Hoyle is Roman Catholic.

Electoral history

References

External links

Congresswoman Val Hoyle
official U.S. House website
Val Hoyle for Congress
campaign website * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoyle, Val 1964 births 21st-century American women politicians American Roman Catholics Catholic politicians from Oregon Democratic Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oregon Emmanuel College (Massachusetts) alumni Female members of the United States House of Representatives Living people Oregon commissioners of labor and industries People from Fairfield, California Politicians from Eugene, Oregon Politicians from Nashua, New Hampshire Women state legislators in Oregon 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives