Rob Wagner’s love affair with the Oregon State Capitol started as a legislative intern. It continued as a legislative aide, lobbyist, state senator and, in 2020, leader of the Senate Democrats.

This year he ascended to the Oregon Senate presidency, replacing the longest-serving occupant of that powerful position.

“I think having a variety of background coming into this position has helped a lot – being able to see it from everything from the intern to the staffer, to the lobbyists, to the legislator, to the majority leader and now to the Senate president. But ultimately, you just have to jump in,” Wagner said. “There isn’t ‘senate president school.’ You kind of have to come in, and flex, and be nimble.”

Last month I hit the road to interview the Legislature’s top two Democrats and top two Republicans: Wagner, D-Lake Oswego; Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp, Bend; House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis; and then-House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, Prineville.

I wanted to know what this year’s long, turbulent legislative session was like for the leaders – politically and personally – and what they foresee for the short session in 2024. The two House columns were published last week, followed by the two Senate columns today.

Wagner and I sat down for a lengthy conversation at Bush’s Pasture Park, among his favorite places to walk in Salem. He was accompanied by his communications director, Connor Radnovich, with whom I followed up by email last week.

The colorful and loquacious Peter Courtney, D-Salem, was Senate president for 20 years until retiring in January. The new Courtney Place Veterans Housing, across from the Capitol grounds, is named for him. So is the pedestrian and cyclist bridge, which Wagner sometimes walks, that connects downtown Salem with Minto Island. 

Wagner carries his own style. His arm tattoo bears his love for the state: landscapes; the state song, “Oregon, My Oregon”; and the state motto, “She Flies With Her Own Wings,” in Latin. 

“Peter’s in the pantheon of the great legislative leaders,” Wagner said. “How do you follow Peter? It’s with a lot of patience and grace, and then being able to establish my own relationships and bring kind of my own style to the job.” 

He brought in comfortable furniture to replace the massive conference table – constructed by state inmates as a gift to Courtney and legislators – that had dominated the Senate president’s inner office for years. Courtney liked the symbolism of “everyone at the table.” Wagner prefers a casual setting.

“I’m learning more and more [that] the Senate presidency really is making sure that the institution is functioning well, that people are communicating well,” he said. 

“And obviously, you know, these are partisan political positions. So I do believe that there is kind of this role that you play in making sure that the public is well-represented. And that the values of the voters that put us in the majority are reflected in the policies that we pass [and] the budgets that we pass.” 

Wagner began his tenure on Jan. 9, calling on senators to give one another grace, to assume the best intentions of colleagues, and to “lead with kindness and charity and goodwill.” 

Troubles already were brewing. With most COVID-19 health protocols now lifted, legislators – including many who were new – had to learn, or re-learn, the norms of working together in person instead of via video conference. The mood wasn’t helped by the odors, noise and cold air emanating from the Capital construction beneath the Senate chamber. 

Last November, the majority Senate Democrats chose Wagner as their nominee for president. Knopp responded with a press release complaining about the lack of Republican input and calling Wagner “untrustworthy, deeply partisan” and lacking “the necessary skills to run the Senate in a bipartisan fashion.”

Republican senators slowed the legislative pace by rarely refusing to waive the requirement that each bill be read aloud before being voted on. 

Yet the Legislature soon passed major bills dealing with homelessness/housing and the semiconductor industry. “I don’t remember a time – and I’ve been around the building a long time, that we moved so much big, bipartisan stuff early,” Wagner said. “That kind of early work was good.

“And then we got to the more tense portions.” 

In the spring, Knopp asked the Senate to remove Wagner as president. To no one’s surprise, Knopp’s motion failed on a party-line vote. 

Republican and Independent senators then staged the longest walkout in Oregon history, 43 days. Wagner and other Democrats criticized the absent lawmakers as undermining the will of the people and violating the Oregon Constitution in order to block debate on House Bill 2002 on reproductive health care. Lawsuits followed.

“It wasn’t like that tactic wasn’t anything that was new. We’d seen it on the Student Success Act. We saw it on two different carbon bills. We saw it on childhood immunization legislation. We saw it on previous efforts on gun safety,” Wagner told me. “I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the playbook was the playbook. But I’ll tell you, it’s not emotionally easy.” 

Throughout the session, he strived to keep his promise of arriving home – about a 50-minute commute – in time to make dinner each night and do the dishes before handling late-night emails, calls and text messages.

His wife’s outsider perspective helped him decompress: “I get to come home and be like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this was so frustrating.’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, I work in corporate America. I’m one of the few women in a huge leadership position for a high-tech company.’” 

Gov. Tina Kotek had been unable to resolve the walkout. At her June 9 press conference in Tillamook, I asked whether she had brought the presiding officers and caucus leaders into a room and knocked some heads. “I’m reserving the right to do that. I haven’t done that yet,” she said.

In June, legislative leaders reached a walkout-ending deal that watered down contentious legislation and advanced some of each party’s priorities. By adjournment on June 25, 94% of the bills had passed with bipartisan support, Wagner said.

At his post-session news conference that day, and again during our conversation, Wagner said he wants to strengthen legislative relationships by going on the road to meet people one-to-one. 

So far, his busy office calendar and the political climate have gotten in the way: “Some of the difficulty right now is that there’s tension because of what’s happening in the courts. It’s kind of hard for me to initiate conversation with people when there’s lawsuits happening and things like that. You kind of have to have a cooling off period.”

Like Knopp, he looks for a different tenor when the Legislature returns in February: Deal with housing and homelessness, drug addiction and treatment, and budget fixes. Leave major partisan issues for the long session in 2025. “I don’t think this is going to be one of those short sessions doing minimum wage, or farmworker overtime or carbon – stuff like that,” he said. 

Nine months after becoming Senate president, Wagner was able to relax and reflect while backpacking in the Cascades with his son.  

Oregon has a strong legislative committee system, in which Wagner likens his presiding-officer role to that of an air traffic controller: make sure they don’t crash into each other, trust people’s professionalism and help with communication.

In the end, he said: “We landed the plane. We might have lost a couple pieces of luggage out the back but … .”

Personal note: I’ll be back next month with more Capital Chatter.