Andrea Salinas

Andrea Rose Salinas (born December 6, 1969) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for OR's 6th congressional district since 2023. Oregon's 6th congressional district includes all of Yamhill and Polk counties, the part of Marion County that includes Salem and Woodburn, a small piece of Beaverton, and the suburban communities to the southwest of Portland, including Tigard, Tualatin and Sherwood.

A member of the Democratic Party, Salinas served as the Oregon State Representative for the 38th district, which includes the City of Lake Oswego and portions of southwestern Portland, from 2017 to 2023.

Early life, education, and career
Salinas is the daughter of an immigrant from Mexico. She was born in San Mateo, California, and grew up in Pleasant Hill. She is a first-generation college student who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2004, Salinas registered as a federal lobbyist on behalf of the National Treasury Employees Union. She lobbied for two years before moving to Portland, where she later lobbied from 2015 to 2017.

Early political career
After graduating from Berkeley, Salinas was a legislative aide to U.S. Senator Harry Reid and U.S. Representatives Pete Stark and Darlene Hooley. She then worked as the legislative director of the Oregon Environmental Council. She left the Oregon Environmental Council to start her own legislative consulting practice. Before joining the Oregon House of Representatives, she was the Oregon Vice President of Strategies 360, a political consulting firm.

In September 2017, Salinas was appointed to fill the vacancy in district 38 of the Oregon House of Representatives created when Ann Lininger was appointed to the Clackamas County Circuit Court. Salinas completed Lininger's term, and was reelected in 2018 and 2020.

In the 81st Oregon Legislative Assembly, she served in the leadership team as the majority whip. She also was the chair of the House Committee on Health Care. In the 2022 regular session, Salinas was a chief sponsor of a bill that mandated overtime pay for farm workers in Oregon. The bill passed along party lines.

2022 election
In November 2021, Salinas announced her candidacy to represent Oregon's new congressional district. This announcement came with controversy, as she did not live in the district. But living in the district is not a requirement for Congress. Salinas said that if she won the race, she would move into the district.

On November 8, 2022, Salinas won the open seat with 50.0% of the vote, defeating Republican Mike Erickson. After the election, Erickson filed a lawsuit against Salinas over a television ad. The lawsuit initially sought to block her from taking office. He sued under a state law that allows a judge to set aside election results if the judge determines that a false statement by the victor swayed voters enough to change the election's outcome. During a December hearing, Erickson indicated through his attorney that he did not wish to overturn the election results, but was still seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages because of Salinas campaign ads that said he had been charged with drug possession. Salinas is being represented by the Portland law firm Markowitz Herbold PC and the Elias Law Group.

In the 118th Congress, Salinas is the freshman representative for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Caucus memberships

 * Congressional Progressive Caucus
 * Congressional Hispanic Caucus
 * New Democrat Coalition
 * Congressional Coalition on Adoption Caucus

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Agriculture
 * Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

Personal life
Salinas, a Roman Catholic, currently resides in Tigard.