John,

I'm sure you followed the chaos last week of what should have been the first week of the 118th Congress. However it looked on TV, I'll tell you, it was even stranger in person.

It is my greatest honor to have been sworn in to represent the people of Oregon's 4th district in Congress on January 7th... only four days after it should have happened. On what should have been a day to celebrate with family, friends and the American people, the entire Congress was being held hostage by extremists in the GOP caucus and the ego of Kevin McCarthy.

All last week, chaos ensued as McCarthy showed a shameful lack of spine and lost vote after vote for Speaker. As Democrats, we were ready to work with our Republican colleagues. However, McCarthy was willing to debase himself 14 times while giving away the power of the Speakership – all so he could hold the gavel and have the title of Speaker. And the concessions he made to the "sedition caucus" behind closed doors in the dead of night show we can expect him to surrender a lot more over the next two years.

During last year's campaign, Kevin McCarthy was so fixated on becoming Speaker, he spent millions of dollars on deceitful ads in Oregon to try to flip this district.

Well, John, McCarthy didn't get the outcome he wanted in Oregon's 4th District and I couldn't have won this race without your help and support. And if there's one take away from last week's clown show, it's that he's gonna have to cater to the most radical and unreasonable elements of his party to hold the only thing he seems to care about: his gavel.

Think about that: Even Kevin McCarthy isn't conservative enough for the extremist wing of his own party.

Keep in mind that when Democrats had the same 4 seat majority, we were able to pass transformational legislation investing in fixing our crumbling infrastructure, directing significant resources to combat the climate crisis, saving our economy from collapse, getting shots in arms and so much more. The GOP can't even elect a Speaker on the first vote. Or the second. Or the third. You get the picture.

I'm here and I'm ready to get to work. So are every single one of my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle. It's a shame that the Republicans in Congress don't share our commitment to a functional Congress that can address the needs of the American people.

McCarthy and his pals have already planned votes this week to defund critical services, to ban abortions nationwide, and to let January 6 insurrectionists off the hook.

And, John, I'm ready to fight back.

Stay tuned,

Val