The Democratic attorney from Corvallis replaces retiring Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum

By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

Oregon’s new attorney general took office a few days early on New Year’s Eve, repeating his oath of office before the same federal judge who presided over his criminal mischief and reckless endangerment case nearly three decades earlier.

Democrat Dan Rayfield, elected in November with 53.5% of the vote, replaced retiring fellow Democrat Ellen Rosenblum, who chose to step down earlier than planned. Newly elected Secretary of State Tobias Read and Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner, both Democrats, are set to take office Jan. 6. 

Rayfield, a 45-year-old civil attorney from Corvallis, has spent the past 10 years in the state House, including a stint as speaker in 2022 and 2023. He also spent four years as co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee. 

But before he found his way to public service and practicing law in a courtroom, Rayfield spent time as a teen on the wrong side of the law. He was cited at 18 for reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and driving under the influence of intoxicants in two separate incidents. All charges were ultimately dismissed. 

Senior U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez, who administered his oath of office on Tuesday, was the Washington County District Court Judge who presided over the 1997 case for criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, which Rayfield previously acknowledged stemmed from shooting BB guns at cars. 

“I am a firm believer that your worst moments in life don’t have to define who you can become,” Rayfield said in a statement. “Twenty-seven years ago, I was 18 years old, standing before Judge Marco Hernandez as a young defendant in his courtroom. Judge Hernandez spoke sternly to me. He told me he never wanted to see me in his courtroom again. Today, I stood before the same man and took the oath of office to serve as Oregon’s 18th attorney general.” 

After his first encounter with Hernandez, Rayfield went on to graduate from Western Oregon University and earned his law degree from Willamette University. He primarily worked on consumer protection cases after joining the Oregon Bar in 2006. 

Oregon’s attorney general advocates for residents on consumer protection and against scam artists and leads the Oregon Department of Justice, with nearly 1,500 workers and an annual budget of about $444 million. The attorney general is also responsible for defending state agencies against lawsuits and choosing whether to sue companies or the federal government to protect Oregon laws — the latter is expected to garner more attention as President-elect Donald Trump returns to White House later this month with a suite of initiatives on immigration, the environment and reproductive health that conflict with Oregon laws. 

Rayfield last month named a dozen prominent Oregon advocates, health care professionals, labor leaders and environmentalists to his federal oversight cabinet, a panel that will advise his office on how to respond to potential threats from the Trump administration. He also appointed a top Justice Department attorney to a special counsel position leading the department’s federal litigation efforts. 

And Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed budget for the next two years includes an extra $2 million for Justice Department attorneys to defend state laws against federal regulations, as well as an extra $2 million for Oregon’s Bias Response Hotline, run through the Justice Department. 

“The significance of this responsibility could not come at a more meaningful time in our state’s and our nation’s history,” Rayfield said. “There is no other job I’d rather have the opportunity to take on. As Oregon’s Attorney General I will always do my best to never lose sight of the trust and responsibility given to me by Oregonians. That trust will serve as a guiding light for me and my team as we navigate the day-to-day challenges of this work.”

Julia Shumway has reported on government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, spent time at the Bend Bulletin and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix, Arizona.