State Representative Chris Garrett

Chris Garrett’s Oregon roots run deep. He grew up in Southwest Portland and was fortunate to attend excellent public schools, including Capitol Hill Elementary, Jackson Middle School, and Wilson High School. Both of Chris’s parents are educators who moved to Oregon in the 1970s because of the unique quality of life and a strong public school system that was the envy of the country. They raised Chris to believe in environmental stewardship, educational opportunity, and a responsibility to contribute to the community.

After graduating from Reed College with a degree in political science, Chris worked for then-Representative Richard Devlin in the Oregon House, helping champion legislation to allow local communities to provide adequate school funding, require insurance coverage for breast cancer screening, and preserve farmland from sprawl and overdevelopment.

Chris went on to earn his law degree at the University of Chicago Law School. After graduating, he began his career at a Manhattan law firm, where his pro bono work for low-income families earned him a Scales of Justice Award. Chris also clerked for a judge on the United States Court of Appeals in New York City.

Since 2002, Chris has practiced law with the Portland law firm of Perkins Coie, where he concentrates on business dispute resolution. Chris has also helped raise money from the legal community for the Oregon Food Bank and worked as a volunteer judge with the Classroom Law Project, helping high school students learn about the legal system and the U.S. Constitution.

In 2005, Chris temporarily left his law practice to work for Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney. This rekindled Chris’s interest in legislative service.

Three years later, when a vacancy arose in House District 38, Chris ran and won. Since January 2009, Chris has proudly represented Lake Oswego and Southwest Portland, including the neighborhoods where he played as a kid, in the Oregon Legislature.

During his two terms, Chris has made priorities of tackling some of Oregon’s toughest problems, including runaway health care costs, our unstable tax structure, and restoring our investment in education to where it was when Chris was growing up in the Portland schools.

Chris has also served on a variety of committees and played a key role in several historic pieces of legislation.

During the 2011 session, Chris served as Co-Chair of the House Redistricting Committee. In June, the Legislature successfully passed bipartisan redistricting plans for both Congress and the state House and Senate for the first time in a century. Chris also served on the Rules Committee and as vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee.

In 2009, Chris was a member of the Health Care Committee and helped draft bills to reduce the costs of medical care and extend health insurance to nearly all Oregon children. As vice-chair of the House Land Use Committee, Chris led the passage of a major bill that gives local governments more flexibility to solve land-use problems while protecting valuable farmland and forestland from sprawl. Chris also co-sponsored a bill protecting the Metolius River Basin from development and authored legislation to reform Oregon's initiative process.

Chris lives in Lake Oswego with his wife, Lauren, their son, Graham, and their black lab, Matty.