Tawna Sanchez

Tawna Sanchez

Democratic Party

Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Tenure

2017 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

8

Predecessor

Lew Frederick

Compensation

Base salary

$35,052/year

Per diem

$157/day

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official Twitter

Official Instagram

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Tawna Sanchez (Democratic Party) is a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 43. She assumed office in 2017. Her current term ends on January 11, 2027.

Sanchez (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Oregon House of Representatives to represent District 43. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Sanchez was assigned to the following committees:

• Joint Conduct Committee
• Joint Legislative Audits Committee
• Joint Ways and Means Committee, Co-Chair

2021-2022

Sanchez was assigned to the following committees:

• Behavioral Health Committee, Chair
• House Conduct Committee
• Human Services Committee
• Joint Conduct Committee
• Joint Ways and Means Committee

2019-2020

Sanchez was assigned to the following committees:

• Human Services and Housing Committee, Vice-Chair
• Capitol Culture Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Oregon committee assignments, 2017
• Human Services and Housing, Vice chair
• Judiciary

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez defeated Tim LeMaster in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez (D)	92.1	37,084
		Tim LeMaster (R)	7.6	3,078
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	97

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,259
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez advanced from the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez	99.3	11,815
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	81

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,896
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Tim LeMaster advanced from the Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 21, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim LeMaster	94.1	386
		Other/Write-in votes	5.9	24

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 410
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Sanchez in this election.

2022

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez defeated Tim LeMaster in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez (D)	91.8	33,466
		Tim LeMaster (R)	8.1	2,943
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	48

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 36,457
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez advanced from the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez	99.3	13,247
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	88

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,335
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Tim LeMaster advanced from the Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim LeMaster	97.6	449
		Other/Write-in votes	2.4	11

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 460
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2020

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez won election in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez (D / Working Families Party)	98.8	39,274
		Other/Write-in votes	1.2	479

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,753
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez advanced from the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 19, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez	99.6	17,774
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	64

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 17,838
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2018

In addition to running as a Democratic Party candidate, Sanchez cross-filed to also run as a Working Families Party candidate, as a Republican write-in candidate, and as an independent write-in candidate in 2018.

General election

General election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez won election in the general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez (D)	98.7	31,885
		Other/Write-in votes	1.3	425

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 32,310
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43

Incumbent Tawna Sanchez advanced from the Democratic primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 43 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tawna Sanchez	100.0	9,727

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 9,727
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

Obama endorsement
During the 2016 election cycle Sanchez was one of the candidates endorsed by President Barack Obama
Full list of Obama's 2016 endorsements

See also: Oregon House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for the Oregon House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 17, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 8, 2016. Incumbent Lew Frederick (D) did not seek re-election.

Tawna Sanchez ran unopposed in the Oregon House of Representatives District 43 general election.

Oregon House of Representatives, District 43 General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Tawna Sanchez  (unopposed)
Source: Oregon Secretary of State

Tawna Sanchez defeated Roberta Phillip-Robbins and Robert Andrews, Jr. in the Oregon House of Representatives District 43 Democratic primary.

Oregon House of Representatives, District 43 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Tawna Sanchez	49.38%	9,408
	Democratic	Roberta Phillip-Robbins	48.49%	9,240
	Democratic	Robert Andrews, Jr.	2.13%	406
Total Votes				19,054

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Tawna Sanchez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Tawna Sanchez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Tawna Sanchez did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Sanchez's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Addressing Income Inequality

• Excerpt: "Tawna will work closely with local businesses, unions, non-profit organizations and community groups to create better opportunities for workers stuck in low-wage jobs. She will push for a higher minimum wage and strong protections for workers’ rights."

Creating Long-Term Affordable Housing

• Excerpt: "Tawna will push our state to make long-term investments in affordable housing that equitable, inclusive, and reach all parts of our community."

Providing Strong Schools for All Children

• Excerpt: "Tawna will push hard to raise achievement, particularly for students of color, students living in poverty, and students still learning the English language."

Creating An Accountable Department of Human Services

• Excerpt: "Our most vulnerable community members deserve an inclusive government that is responsive and accountable to meeting the needs of children in foster care, families in crisis, and people living with disabilities."

Advocating for Elders

• Excerpt: "In addition to her hands on expertise, Tawna will work with our elder community to create a vision for broader policy reforms that best support the needs of our growing elder populations."

Campaign finance summary

---

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

---

Tawna Sanchez campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Oregon House of Representatives District 43	Won general	$298,178	$248,514
2022	Oregon House of Representatives District 43	Won general	$241,634	$221,439
2020	Oregon House of Representatives District 43	Won general	$33,345	N/A**
2018	Oregon House of Representatives District 43	Won general	$36,008	N/A**
2016	Oregon House of Representatives, District 43	Won	$113,665	N/A**
Grand total			$722,830	$469,953
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Endorsements

2016

In 2016, Sanchez's endorsements included the following:

• State Senator Chip Shields
• State Senator Chuck Riley
• State Representative Joe Gallegos
• Multnomah Education Service District Board Member Stephen Marc Beaudoin
• Woodburn City Councilor Teresa Alonso Leon
• Former Commissioner Mike Lindberg
• Wheeler County Judge Patrick Perry
• Former Mayor Sam Adam
• Former Mayor Tom Potter
• Former Multnomah County Chair Beverly Stein
• Former Multnomah County Commissioner Barbara Willer
• Former Multnomah County Commissioner Maria Rojo De Steffey
• Former PPS Board Member Ruth Adkins
• Former PPS Board Member Matt Morton
• Former Oregon City Commissioner Kathy Sherer Roth

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Oregon

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Oregon scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show].
In 2024, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from Februrary 5 to March 7. Humane Oregon: Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes related to the environment.

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].

In 2023, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from January 17 to June 25. Humane Oregon: Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. Oregon AFSCME Legislators are scored on their votes on labor issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters: Senate and House Legislators are scored on their votes related to the environment. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].

In 2022, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from February 1 to March 4. Humane Oregon: Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Oregon AFSCME Legislators are scored on their votes on labor issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters: Senate and House Legislators are scored on their votes related to the environment. Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Legislators are scored on their stances related to taxes, economic development, housing, environmental regulations, and business.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].

In 2021, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from January 21 to June 26. Humane Oregon: Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored on their votes related to the environment. Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Legislators are scored on their stances related to taxes, economic development, housing, environmental regulations, and business. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].

In 2020, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from February 3 to March 5. Special sessions were convened from June 24 to June 26 and on August 10. Humane Oregon: Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues. Stand for Children Oregon Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].

In 2019, the Oregon State Legislature was in session from January 22 through June 30. Humane Oregon House and Senate Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored based on their voting record for bills relating to conservation. Oregon State Public Interest Research Group Legislators are scored on their votes related to issues important to the organization. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].

In 2018, the 79th Oregon State Legislature, second session, was in session from February 5 through March 3. There was also a one-day special session on May 21, 2018. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues. Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Legislators are scored on their votes on bills affecting local businesses. Oregon State Public Interest Research Group Legislators are scored on their votes related to issues important to the organization. SEIU 503 Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to the union's priorities. Stand for Children Oregon Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to education. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].

In 2017, the 79th Oregon State Legislature, first session, was in session from February 1 through July 7. There was also an organizational session January 9. American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon Legislators are scored based on their voting record for bills relating to civil liberties. Humane Oregon Senate and House Legislators are scored on bills related to animal issues. Oregon League of Conservation Voters Legislators are scored based on their voting record for bills relating to conservation. Oregon State Chamber of Commerce Legislators are scored based on their votes on House and Senate bills. Oregon State Public Interest Research Group Legislators are scored based on their support of issues important to the organization. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

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Candidate

Oregon House of Representatives District 43

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Oregon House of Representatives District 43

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Lew Frederick (D)	Oregon House of Representatives District 43 2017-Present	Succeeded by -

[show]

Current members of the Oregon House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Julie Fahey

Majority Leader:Ben Bowman

Minority Leader:Lucetta Elmer

Representatives

District 1

Court Boice (R)

District 2

Virgle Osborne (R)

District 3

Dwayne Yunker (R)

District 4

Alek Skarlatos (R)

District 5

Pam Marsh (D)

District 6

Kim Wallan (R)

District 7

John Lively (D)

District 8

Lisa Fragala (D)

District 9

Boomer Wright (R)

District 10

David Gomberg (D)

District 11

Jami Cate (R)

District 12

Darin Harbick (R)

District 13

Nancy Nathanson (D)

District 14

Julie Fahey (D)

District 15

Shelly Boshart Davis (R)

District 16

Sarah McDonald (D)

District 17

Ed Diehl (R)

District 18

Rick Lewis (R)

District 19

Tom Andersen (D)

District 20

Paul Evans (D)

District 21

Kevin Mannix (R)

District 22

Lesly Muñoz (D)

District 23

Anna Scharf (R)

District 24

Lucetta Elmer (R)

District 25

Ben Bowman (D)

District 26

Sue Rieke Smith (D)

District 27

Ken Helm (D)

District 28

Dacia Grayber (D)

District 29

Susan McLain (D)

District 30

Nathan Sosa (D)

District 31

Darcey Edwards (R)

District 32

Cyrus Javadi (D)

District 33

Shannon Isadore (D)

District 34

Mari Watanabe (D)

District 35

Farrah Chaichi (D)

District 36

Hai Pham (D)

District 37

Jules Walters (D)

District 38

Daniel Nguyen (D)

District 39

April Dobson (D)

District 40

Annessa Hartman (D)

District 41

Mark Gamba (D)

District 42

Rob Nosse (D)

District 43

Tawna Sanchez (D)

District 44

Travis Nelson (D)

District 45

Thuy Tran (D)

District 46

Willy Chotzen (D)

District 47

Andrea Valderrama (D)

District 48

Vacant

District 49

Zach Hudson (D)

District 50

Ricki Ruiz (D)

District 51

Christine Drazan (R)

District 52

Jeffrey Helfrich (R)

District 53

Emerson Levy (D)

District 54

Jason Kropf (D)

District 55

E. Reschke (R)

District 56

Emily McIntire (R)

District 57

Greg Smith (R)

District 58

Bobby Levy (R)

District 59

Vikki Breese-Iverson (R)

District 60

Mark Owens (R)

Democratic Party (36)

Republican Party (23)

Vacancies (1)