Politics / Law
Suzanne Bonamici
born 1954 · lawyer, politician
Detroit-born lawyer who has represented Oregon's 1st congressional district, covering western Portland and its suburbs, since 2012.
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Suzanne Bonamici was born in Detroit in 1954. Her public career, however, unfolded in the Pacific Northwest: she moved to Oregon as a young woman, studied at Lane Community College and the University of Oregon, and earned her law degree there. She worked as a consumer-protection lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., then practiced law in Portland. She entered the Oregon House of Representatives in 2007 and moved to the Oregon Senate in 2008. In a special election in January 2012 she won the U.S. House seat for Oregon's 1st district, which covers most of Portland west of the Willamette River and suburbs such as Beaverton, Hillsboro and Lake Oswego. In Congress she has focused on education, workforce training and the environment, and co-chairs the Congressional Oceans Caucus. Her Detroit connection is her birth.
Highlights
- U.S. representative for Oregon's 1st district since 2012
- Former consumer-protection lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission
- Member of the Oregon House (2007–2008) and Oregon Senate (2008–2012)