Governor Tina Kotek
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Governor Tina Kotek
Biographical
Governor Tina Kotek began her public service career as a policy advocate for Oregon Food Bank, working to eliminate hunger for every Oregonian. She went on to serve as the policy director for Children First for Oregon, and stepped up to run for the Oregon House of Representatives to do more to help working families. She was first elected to represent North Portland in 2006.
In 2013, she became the first openly lesbian speaker of any state house in the nation. Then-Speaker Kotek worked tirelessly to respond to the immediate crises facing Oregonians — delivering pandemic relief, funding wildfire recovery, protecting renters from eviction, making historic investments to increase affordable housing construction, passing a first-in-the-nation statewide rent stabilization law and advocating for more equitable policing and a fairer criminal justice system. When she left office in January 2022, she was the longest serving Speaker of the House in Oregon history.
She was elected governor on November 8, 2022, and sworn in as Oregon’s 39th governor on January 9, 2023. Governor Kotek and her wife Aimee Kotek Wilson, a social worker, have been together for 19 years and have two dogs.
Governor's Duties
State Capitol Building, 900 Court St. NE, Suite 254, Salem 97301-4047; 503-378-4582; Fax: 503-378-8970
Tina Kotek, Portland; Democrat; elected 2022; term expires January 2027.
The governor is the chief executive of Oregon. The Oregon Constitution charges the governor with faithfully executing the laws, making recommendations to the Legislature and transacting all necessary business of state government.
The governor provides leadership, planning and coordination for the executive branch of state government. She appoints many department and agency heads within the executive branch and members to nearly 300 policymaking, regulatory and advisory boards and commissions. The governor proposes a two-year budget to the Legislature, recommends a legislative program each regular session and may also call special sessions. She reviews all bills passed by the Legislature, may veto measures she believes are not in the public interest and shall fill vacancies by appointment.
The governor chairs the State Land Board, which manages state-owned lands, acts as the superintendent of public instruction, directs state government coordination with local and federal governments and is commander-in-chief of the state’s military forces.
The governor appoints judges to fill vacancies in judicial office, has extradition authority and may grant reprieves, commutations and pardons of criminal sentences.
If the office of governor becomes vacant, the office passes, in order, to the secretary of state, state treasurer, president of the Senate and speaker of the House of Representatives. There is no lieutenant governor in Oregon.
Statutory Authority: ORS Chapter 176