Rachel Philips
Rachel Philips ran in a special election for the Position 38 judge of the Oregon 4th Judicial District Circuit Court. She lost in the special general election on November 5, 2024.
Philips completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Rachel Philips was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She earned a high school diploma from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, a bachelor's degree from the College of Santa Fe in 1989, and a law degree from the Lewis and Clark College of Law in 2005. Her career experience includes working as an attorney. Philips began serving as an animal hearings officer for Multnomah County in 2022.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Municipal elections in Multnomah County, Oregon (2024)
General election
Special general election for Oregon 4th Judicial District Circuit Courts Position 38
Jeff Auxier defeated Rachel Philips, Jennifer Myrick, Tom Dwyer, and John Schlosser in the special general election for Oregon 4th Judicial District Circuit Courts Position 38 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jeff Auxier (Nonpartisan)  | 42.2 | 110,776 |
 | Rachel Philips (Nonpartisan) | 24.5 | 64,244 | |
 | Jennifer Myrick (Nonpartisan) | 18.4 | 48,458 | |
| Tom Dwyer (Nonpartisan) | 7.1 | 18,598 | ||
 | John Schlosser (Nonpartisan) | 6.5 | 17,075 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 1.4 | 3,572 | ||
| Total votes: 262,723 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
To view Philips's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Philips in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Rachel Philips completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Philips' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- I am running for judge because the current crisis in criminal defense has gotten worse in the last 5 years. It's gotten worse because we keep re-electing the same people even though they don't fix the problem. There's no question that one solution is to find a way to resolve cases more efficiently. That's better for victims, & it frees up defense attorneys to take more cases. I testified to the Oregon Legislature in February of 2024 that, “Delay of serious cases has an overwhelmingly horrible impact for crime victims.” I am the only candidate who has consistently advocated for fixing our broken system. Voters should be leery of electing anyone who has been in a position to fix the problem but has failed to do so.
- I have never been a part of the system. I grew up in modest circumstances, always had to work to get through school, and went to law school at age 36 after personally seeing how badly the system treats people. I have always channeled my anger into making things better for people, and have been highly successful in doing so. Unusual among defense attorneys, I win most of my trials, and when I have not, most of those convictions were reversed on appeal. But most of all, I have settled cases effectively, bringing resolution to victims and defendants alike.
- My overwhelming motivation has been to help people, and I have fought hard for my clients, whether they are criminal defendants or crime victims. Having that experience as an advocate, as well as an individual who experienced the court system first-hand, uniquely qualifies me for the position of Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge.
In addition to representing crime victims and individuals accused of committing crimes, I have spent time advocating for criminal justice reform. This has included testifying before the Oregon legislature on issues ranging from the public defender shortage, recriminalization of drug possession, discovery policies in criminal cases, and juvenile justice issues. All of this experience uniquely qualifies me for the position of Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge.
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
I am an absolute believer in following the law and the constitution. Adhering to both is the best way to ensure my own personal biases do not creep into my decision-making.
I have never been a part of the system. I grew up in modest circumstances, always had to work to get through school, and went to law school at age 36 after personally seeing how badly the system treats people. I have always channeled my anger into making things better for people, and have been highly successful in doing so. Unusual among defense attorneys, I win most of my trials, and when I have not, most of those convictions were reversed on appeal. But most of all, I have settled cases effectively, bringing resolution to victims and defendants alike.
In addition to that advocacy, I initiated the DA Discovery Project, which was done as a collaboration with Lewis & Clark Law School, Professor Aliza Kaplan and law students Alexis Fisher and Todd Smith. The DA Discovery Project was a three-year research project on district attorney discovery practices in all 36 counties in Oregon, focusing on how those practices compared with discovery practices in other jurisdictions. This led to testifying before the 2021 Oregon legislature on proposed changes to the discovery statute (Senate Bill 751), which passed without opposition and was signed into law.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Oregon 4th Judicial District Circuit Courts Position 38 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 16, 2024
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Oregon • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Oregon
State courts:
Oregon Supreme Court • Oregon Court of Appeals • Oregon Circuit Courts • Oregon Tax Court • Oregon County Courts • Oregon Justice Courts • Oregon Municipal Courts
State resources:
Courts in Oregon • Oregon judicial elections • Judicial selection in Oregon
