Suzanne Bonamici

Suzanne Bonamici (born October 14, 1954) is a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Oregon. She is the U.S. Representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district, having defeated Republican nominee Rob Cornilles in a special election on January 31, 2012. The district includes most of Portland west of the Willamette River, as well as all of Yamhill, Columbia, Clatsop, and Washington counties.

Bonamici previously represented District 17 in the Oregon State Senate from 2008 to 2011. She was first elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2006.

Early life, education, and law career
Bonamici was born in Detroit and raised in a small Michigan town. Her father worked for a local bank and her mother was a small-business owner and piano teacher. She earned an A.A. from Lane Community College, a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oregon, and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.

During college, she was a legal assistant at Lane County Legal Aid in the city of Eugene. After getting her law degree, she became a consumer protection attorney for the Federal Trade Commission in the nation's capital. She went into private practice in Portland and represented small businesses.

Elections
In 2006, incumbent Democratic State Representative Brad Avakian decided to retire to run for the Oregon Senate. She ran for the open seat in Oregon's 34th House District and defeated Republican Joan Draper 62%-36%.

On April 30, 2008 Bonamici was appointed by Commissioners from both Washington and Multnomah counties to represent Oregon's 17th Senate District. The seat became vacant when incumbent State Senator Brad Avakian was appointed Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. She was sworn in on May 19, 2008.

In the November 2008 special election she won with 97% of the vote to serve the remainder of the four-year term. In 2010, she won re-election with 64% of the vote.

Committee assignments
In the 2009 Legislative Session, Bonamici served as the Chair of the Senate Consumer Protection and Public Affairs Committee and as a member of the Senate Judiciary and Education Committees.

2012 special election
In early 2011, Bonamici's name was floated as a possible successor to then-Congressman David Wu after The Oregonian and Willamette Week reported Wu exhibited odd behavior and clashed with his staff in the midst of apparent mental illness during the 2010 election cycle. Following Wu's resignation from Congress, Bonamici announced her candidacy for the special election to replace him, touting endorsements from former Governor Barbara Roberts, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse, and incumbent Oregon Attorney General John Kroger, among others.

On November 8, 2011, Bonamici won the Democratic Party of Oregon's nomination, winning an outright majority of the vote in every county in the district and capturing 66 percent of the vote overall, with a 44-point margin over second-place finisher Brad Avakian. She faced Republican nominee Rob Cornilles in the special election on January 31, 2012, winning by a 14% margin.

Prior to her election to Congress, Bonamici resigned from the Oregon Senate on November 21, and was replaced by Elizabeth Steiner Hayward in December.

2012 Election
In November 2012, Bonamici won reelection to Congress, with over 60% of the vote.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on the Budget
 * Committee on Science, Space and Technology

Personal life
She is married to Michael H. Simon, a federal judge. They have two children, Andrew and Sara. Bonamici was raised Episcopalian and Unitarian, and now attends synagogue with her Jewish husband, and children.

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