Representing a “purple” district like House District 53 is no easy task. With Democrats currently holding the majority in both chambers of the state legislature as well as the governor’s office, it could be easy for a Democrat like Emerson Levy to simply fade into the blue and go along for the partisan ride. But with 17,832 registered Democrats and 15,991 registered Republicans in her district as of February (along with 20,655 non-affiliated voters), Levy seems to understand that a more holistic, kitchen-table approach is needed. You can see that in the community-centered priorities she told us she’s setting for her next term in the Oregon State Legislative Assembly, which include reducing the cost of prescription drugs, preventing and mitigating wildfire, regulating e-bikes and protecting kids online. In addition, she’s committed to keeping Oregon kids covered by health insurance as the state navigates a billion-dollar deficit in the coming session. These are common sense priorities that cross party lines, and that show Levy to be a common-sense legislator who understands the needs of the district.
Levy is now running for her third term in office, and in this round of endorsement interviews, her experience really shone through. Whether you’re from the Portland area or from a far-flung part of eastern Oregon, entering state politics can be a challenging ride. There’s a steep learning curve about how funding and influence really work. There are the players who have been there a long time, who may be ready to take you under their wing or to show you just how little you know — or both. And then there are the myriad challenges of navigating partisan politics.
If you’re representing a purple district with a healthy dose of both Republican and Democratic voters — not to mention the juggernaut that is the non-affiliated bloc — all of that could result in ineffective representation in the state House. Levy has seemingly navigated all of that through her years in office and has brought some important investments home as a result. We can credit Levy for helping to fund the first and only youth psychiatric hospital bed in our region, and for championing a youth e-bike safety bill that brought some clarity to what adolescents should and shouldn’t be able to do. She also supported legislation that would have banned cell phones in schools (though that was ultimately achieved through Gov. Tina Kotek’s executive order).
Levy’s experience tackling the complicated business of preventing and battling wildfires gave her a noted leg up on her challenger in this race, Michael Summers, who spoke in broad terms about things like incentivizing forest clearing and thoughtful logging, but who didn’t possess the nitty-gritty knowledge about recent legislation aimed at mitigation, past-due federal emergency funds and other details that Levy did.
Summers, who currently serves as vice chair of the Redmond School Board, certainly had valuable things to say about the struggles of educators, and how they experience death by a thousand cuts due to what he described as onerous state regulations and guidelines that he says hold them back from focusing on the fundamentals of reading, writing and math. His experience as a public servant on the Redmond School Board has given him a broader knowledge of community issues and that is serving him well in his aspiration for higher office. His perspective on Oregon’s tendency to gravitate toward the “shiny new thing” — in education or other sectors of government — rather than focusing on the fundamentals did resonate with us. But as the conversation about education continued, we were unclear how Summers aimed to fix it. Levy, on the other hand, offered some concrete suggestions for improving educational outcomes, including engaging with the unions to add more days back to the school year.
With his connections and charisma, Summers could be a good legislator. But in this moment, Levy’s hard work over the last several years is too valuable to toss away. She simply has more experience and know-how. Vote to re-elect Emerson Levy to House District 53.
—See the video of our interview with Levy and Summers:
This article appears in the Source September 17, 2026.
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