The desks of Republican senators are vacant on May 31, 2023, as the GOP-led walkout prevents the Senate from conducting business for the 19th day. Sen. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, was among them. (Ben Botkin/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, is stepping down from Republican leadership on Monday, his colleagues said, leaving the door open for a new leader and spurring speculation about his future plans.
Republican senators are set to vote today for their next caucus leadership, and many in the group have known for more than a week that Bonham will not run for his leadership position again, Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Salem, told the Capital Chronicle on Friday. Another Republican lawmaker, Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, confirmed the meeting and said that a forthcoming vote on leadership has been planned since lawmakers elected Bonham leader of their caucus last year.
“There are others that are interested in leadership,” Nash said. “I don’t have any information about what that’s going to look like.”
Bonham is barred from running for reelection next year because he participated in a six-week quorum-denying walkout in 2023 to protest Democratic bills on guns, abortion and gender-affirming care.
His future plans remain to be seen, and it’s not clear whether he has discussed them with his fellow colleagues, several of whom told the Capital Chronicle they had no knowledge of them. But on the right-leaning political commentary podcast Crosstabs on Friday, co-host Bryan Iverson, a Senate staffer and husband of Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, said Bonham is expected to step down on Monday before new leadership emerges.
He said he was hearing that Bonham “got a job in the Trump administration” to work for U.S Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Oregon congressmember appointed by President Donald Trump after losing her reelection bid to Democrat Janelle Bynum.
“The rumor mill is telling me that he’s out of here,” Iverson said. “He’s gonna go work for Lori Chavez-DeRemer or one of the agencies over there and he’s gonna step down.”
The U.S. Department of Labor did not answer repeated inquiries about Bonham’s role and whether he was being hired by the department. Courtney Parella, a spokesperson for the agency, stopped responding to messages from the Capital Chronicle after asking on Wednesday for his name in writing in order to confirm the position.
Bonham has long been supportive of Chavez-DeRemer, whom he endorsed out the gate for her 2024 reelection bid to Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, which spans from southeast Portland across the Cascades to Bend. She most recently drew headlines for requesting a federal “crack down” on Portland.
Nash added that the last time the caucus moved to appoint Bonham, a consensus emerged quickly given that “nobody else” was interested in the position. He said that he expects the decision to be announced on Monday, but was not aware of the position Bonham could be taking afterwards.
“I would expect that you would get that directly from Senator Bonham rather than myself,” Nash said. “As far as leadership goes, I would expect that everybody will know one way or another on Monday what our next leader is.”
Bonham and his office have not responded to text messages, emails and a phone call seeking clarity on his future position or plans for leadership.
If he were to leave his position before his term expires in January 2027, commissioners from Hood River, Wasco, Clackamas and Multnomah counties would have to appoint a replacement. Rep. Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, announced in February that he would be running for Bonham’s seat. He did not respond to requests for comment about Bonham’s position in the Senate. Rep. Christine Drazan, R-Canby and the House Republican leader, represents the other half of the district and also didn’t respond.
Some of Bonham’s colleagues, meanwhile, are keeping their chips closer to their hand. Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, declined to comment on the specifics of internal caucus deliberations out of “politeness” for his colleagues. In a brief phone interview, he praised Bonham’s leadership and said lawmakers would stay focused on fighting tax increases for Oregonians.
“Bonham’s been a good leader. We’re working together, and I think we’re united in this opposition to these new taxes,” Robinson said. “So you’ll get the same thing, I think, from all of us.”
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