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Former member of Congress · last served 117th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. Peter A. DeFazio

Peter A. DeFazio

DEMOCRAT U.S. Representative · OregonHouse 1987–2023 (OR-4)

Peter Defazio was a Democratic U.S. representative from Oregon, first elected to Congress in 1987, who voted with most Democrats on 87% of the 112th Congress’s yes/no votes and sponsored 7 bills that became law (113th–117th Congress).

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193Bills & resolutions sponsored113th–117th Congress (excludes amendments)
23Passed a chamberof 176 substantive bills (excludes resolutions and ceremonial bills)
7Became law7 substantive + 0 ceremonial · 113th–117th Congress
82Broke with partyof 644 yes/no votes, 112th (12.7%)
11Missed votesof 658 roll calls, 112th (1.7%)
—Pork: own shareFY2024 earmarks: not in office

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

5 most recent votes

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Rep. Defazio has won

Rep. Defazio has won 18 U.S. House elections (1986–2020). Of the contested races, margins ran from 5.3 to 72.0 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1986, OR-4: won by 8.1 points1986OR-41988, OR-4: won by 44.0 points19881990, OR-4: won by 72.0 points19901992, OR-4: won by 42.9 points19921994, OR-4: won by 33.6 points19941996, OR-4: won by 37.9 points19961998, OR-4: won by 41.6 points19982000, OR-4: won by 37.5 points20002002, OR-4: won by 29.5 points20022004, OR-4: won by 23.4 points20042006, OR-4: won by 24.7 points20062008, OR-4: won by 70.0 points20082010, OR-4: won by 10.9 points20102012, OR-4: won by 20.1 points20122014, OR-4: won by 21.0 points20142016, OR-4: won by 15.8 points20162018, OR-4: won by 15.1 points20182020, OR-4: won by 5.3 points2020
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won18 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 5.3 points2020, OR-4
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 18 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Oregon’s 4th districtWinners, most recent three: James Weaver (D) 1976–1984 → Peter A. Defazio (D) 1986–2020 → Val T. Hoyle (D) 2022–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has Oregon’s 4th district done while Rep. DeFazio served?

2005 to 2021 in OR-4: typical household income was up 16% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was about the same, and the share of workers looking for a job was about the same.

Typical household income · after inflationOregon $82.9KU.S. $80.8KOR-4 $69.0K
OR-4: $59.7K in 2005 → $69.0K in 2021
OR-4 up 16%Oregon up 20%U.S. up 8%
Share of people below the poverty lineOR-4 15.5%U.S. 12.8%Oregon 12.2%
OR-4: 15.4% in 2005 → 15.5% in 2021
OR-4 about the sameOregon down 1.9 pointsU.S. down 0.5 points
Share of workers looking for a jobOR-4 7.3%Oregon 6.4%U.S. 6.3%
OR-4: 8.0% in 2005 → 7.3% in 2021
OR-4 about the sameOregon down 1.2 pointsU.S. down 0.6 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Oregon’s 4th district during DeFazio’s time representing it (1987 to 2023). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

Only one set of district lines is shown. OR-4 was redrawn in 2022, and a redrawn district is a different place. So this card shows only the longest stretch on the same lines during the term, 2005 to 2021 (no 2020 yearly estimate), not the full 1987 to 2023.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

117th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 37 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored37Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement34See the 34 →
With a CBO cost estimate listed4See the 4 →
With a committee report listed10See the 10 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 117th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · latest recorded House vote Sep 16, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.