Two Republican governor hopefuls among Oregon lawmakers who missed more than one-third of session votes
By Alex Baumhardt and Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM, Ore. -- During the most recent short legislative session, Oregon lawmakers in the House and Senate were asked to take more than 180 votes on their respective chamber floors, ultimately passing 143 new laws over 33 days dealing with taxes, spending on critical services, health care and more, according to data sets tracking the votes.
With the exception of two Democratic lawmakers who missed almost the whole session — Rep. Annessa Hartman of Gladstone, who is undergoing treatment for cervical cancer, and Rep. Andrea Valderrama of Portland, who is on post-partum leave — five lawmakers, all of them Republicans, missed more than one-third of those votes.
That’s according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of unofficial vote tallies from the Legislature’s internal tracking system and LegiScan, a legislative tracking and data service providing weekly voting data from state and federal legislatures.
The two data sets show similar figures and proportions of missed votes within a few percentage points of one another. Both include identical final numbers for votes taken in each chamber, as well as motions to refer, substitute and withdraw bills that are in the chambers, though LegiScan also includes votes taken on bills in committees before they head to chambers.
Among those who missed the most votes, according to the data sets, are two lawmakers vying for the GOP’s nomination in the 2026 Oregon governor’s race. Rep. Ed Diehl, a Republican from Scio, missed roughly half of all the votes taken during the session, according to the data. Sen. Christine Drazan, a Republican from Canby, missed about one-third of votes during the session.
The Capital Chronicle shared data with four of the lawmakers on Monday, March 9, and with Drazan and her staff on Friday, March 6 and again last Thursday, and sent each of the five lawmakers detailed fact-checking emails before publication.
How many votes did your lawmakers miss? The Oregon Capital Chronicle has a searchable table on this article.
The Oregon Legislature is a citizen’s assembly, meaning most lawmakers maintain jobs aside from their elected roles. Some members have to straddle work responsibilities during annual legislative sessions, but they’re generally expected to be in the Capitol during those sessions to do the important work of lawmaking.
And most lawmakers did show up this session to vote on bills they were expected to.
Eighteen lawmakers — 10 senators and eight representatives — didn’t miss a single vote. Most others made the vast majority of the votes before them. Excluding Hartman, Valderrama, Boshart Davis, Levy, Diehl and Osborne, the average House member participated in about 91% of votes, according to the data.
“I know some people leverage showing up for certain political reasons, and I always figure that they have their reasons for doing that,” said Rep. Paul Evans, a Democrat from Monmouth who didn’t miss a single vote. “But my philosophy is, if I’m able, I should be doing my job.”
An elected official missing almost as many votes as they take is worrisome to good government advocates, concerned that skipping votes allows lawmakers to shirk an essential part of the job they were sent to Salem to undertake.
“There’s no rules against this, but voters expect their representatives to show up,” said Kate Titus, executive director of the pro-democracy nonprofit Common Cause Oregon. “For most Oregonians, if we don’t show up for work, we don’t get paid. It’s not a good look.”
Under a 2022 voter-approved law — Ballot Measure 113 — elected officials who rack up ten unexcused absences are barred from running for reelection in the following term, a move meant to curb the rise of prolonged, Republican-led walkouts of legislative business over opposition to bills.
Despite Republicans briefly boycotting both chambers this year during afternoon floor sessions, House and Senate leaders did not mark them absent those days because they had been on chamber floors earlier in the day, according to representatives for House Speaker Julie Fahey and Senate President Rob Wagner.
Lawmakers cite medical treatments, constituents for missing votes
The lawmaker missing the most votes was Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, a Republican from Albany who missed 95 of 183 votes — 52% — during the 33-day session. Boshart Davis did not respond to emails or a call and a text from the Capital Chronicle.
Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, who missed nearly half of votes, said in an email that she missed a few days because she receives regular treatments for macular degeneration in her left eye, and had to drive from Salem to Kennewick, Wash. and back to receive a shot helping her maintain her eyesight.
“I had to make a commitment to the retina specialist that I wouldn’t miss a shot, so there will be more shots in the long session as well,” she wrote. “Everyone in the capital knows my struggles with my eye and as a result others have benefitted.”
Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, told the Capital Chronicle in a phone call that many lawmakers work 60-hour weeks during the session to keep up with business in the building, such as committee work, on top of meeting with constituents outside of the Capitol.
“It’s not our job to tell reporters why we’re there or not,” he said.
Osborne did deliberately miss at least one day of voting. He was among the Republicans in the House who skipped a Feb. 23 floor session ahead of votes on moving the date of a gas tax referendum and a wide-ranging gun control bill.
“You’ll see that a lot of legislators will go into district to do work,” he said. “Especially if there’s something not critical to vote on that the majority party is gonna carry anyway.”
Titus said it makes sense for lawmakers to miss a vote if a health issue comes up, or in an emergency. But they have months to prepare for the short sessions that occur every other year, and should be able to plan their schedules accordingly.
“We do live in the age of technology, and though not all people have access to all technology, most people can access a phone in this day and age,” she said. “I’d be curious to know: if people are going back into district during that short, 30-day session for meetings, who are those constituents that warrant a meeting? Is it any and every constituent that calls for a meeting? Or is it the big donor?
"Is it certain constituents that feel like they should be treated with more deference? Because it is very disruptive during a short session.”
Campaign events coincide with some Diehl absences
Diehl on Thursday told the Capital Chronicle he had not had the chance to review the data sent Monday, and that “I can’t be sure where I was or what I was doing,” instead of voting. In response to a final fact-checking email, he offered more explanation on his whereabouts.
He was officially excused for five full days and two half-days during the 33-day session for “personal reasons,” a “personal appointment” and four “personal events,” according to excusal forms obtained via a public records request from the Office of Legislative Counsel. But Diehl said those forms are inaccurate and that he ended up using one full day and two half day absences instead.
Of the 91 votes he missed, roughly half took place when he was excused from the building, but the other half took place when he was “excused for business” meaning he was otherwise in the building but not on the floor taking votes with the rest of the chamber.
“I decided to work in my office on critical legislation that was still pending. For example, I was working to resurrect Senate Bill 1585, which we succeeded in doing and it passed on the last day of session,” he said, referencing a bill to stipulate matching local funds for state grants on transportation projects. “If it was important for me to be on the floor they could have made a call of the House at any time.”
On at least two of the days he requested absences — Feb. 13 and Feb. 16 — he was participating in campaign events in Columbia and Klamath counties, according to his campaign’s public calendar. Diehl said his Feb. 13 absence did not have to do with a campaign event, but instead touring the shuttered Sheridan Fruit Co. in southeast Portland and meeting with its owner, which he later posted about on social media.
He did not miss any of the votes House members took on Feb. 16, but did miss an hour-long meeting of the Joint Ways & Means Subcommittee on Human Services.
“Later that day I drove 8 hours round trip to Klamath Falls for a 2-hour event,” he wrote in an email. “I drove back that evening through a snowstorm on the pass, arriving home at 1:30 am so that I could be on the floor to vote the next morning (Feb 17th).”
Diehl said he was excused on March 2 to help support his wife post-surgery, but he still showed up to the House floor to discuss the proposal to shift the transportation referendum date.
Of the 91 votes he missed, at least six involved bills regarding protections for immigrants or responding to the Trump administration. Oregon lawmakers considered around 15 pieces of legislation dealing with the federal government’s immigration policy or insulating the state from President Donald Trump’s agencies. Among the bill votes Diehl skipped was one that would prevent state agencies and local governments from assisting the federal government in selling or transferring public federal lands in Oregon.
Diehl wrote that his focus for the session was serving taxpayers, families, seniors and young adults in Oregon, adding in a statement: “I don’t understand why you are spending so much time on this when there are so many other critical issues going on in Oregon that need to be covered.”
Drazan cites district demands
Drazan told the Capital Chronicle that as a newly-minted senator — she took over the Gorge-based 26th Senate District in October after former Republican Sen. Daniel Bonham was nominated to join the U.S. Labor Department — she was busy getting up to speed. In October, she sought to assuage fears raised by some county commissioners about whether her aspirations for a higher office would prevent her from representing the district.
“It’s a larger district. I have lots of ground to cover, a lot of people to get in touch with. Half of it is new to me. So there’s always things that need to be done,” she said at the Capitol as the session wrapped.
Drazan was excused from the Senate for three full days and one evening session for “medical,” “travel” and “district” work, according to excusal forms. But an analysis of social media posts on the excused dates also show that Drazan was, during one absence, at a business roundtable in Oregon City posted to her social media account which advertises her campaign. Her son and staffer, Izaak Drazan, previously told the Capital Chronicle that the event was for her legislative duties.
During another day where she was excused, Drazan posted photos to Facebook of a meeting between her and members of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association at her office in the Capitol. During another day she had an excused absence, she posted a video of herself next to a stack of printed comments in opposition to a proposal moving the date of a gas tax referendum.
Ashley Kuenzi, a spokesperson for Oregon’s Senate Republicans, said the timing of Drazan’s posts don’t correlate to her scheduled work since she “doesn’t post her meetings or events live, often posting several days after the fact.”
About half of the votes Drazan missed occurred on days when she submitted an excusal form. The others occurred when she was otherwise expected to be in the building. And 11 votes she missed were on bills related to immigration or the state’s response to President Donald Trump’s policies. Drazan has for months avoided taking clear positions on federal issues such as immigration and Trump’s attempted deployment of the National Guard to Portland.
When the Capital Chronicle asked Drazan about missing votes on a large number of immigration bills, she said “I would say that’s conspiracy theory territory. And it just happens.”
“I’m sure that anybody can find a pattern when they’re looking for them,” she went on. “But I just have been busy, and I did my best to be on the floor and my best to serve everybody that I’m required to serve there.”
