Janelle Bynum Becomes First Black Member Of Congress For Oregon

U.S. Representative for Oregon Janelle Bynum described last Friday’s swearing in ceremony as “surreal.”

“I grew up here in D.C., and to come back home on these terms, and to be able to represent the place where I’ve raised my children and had my adult career, was pretty impactful,” she told The Skanner.

Bynum beat Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer to represent Oregon's 5th congressional district in November – and to become the first Black representative Oregon has ever sent to the U.S. Congress. Bynum is also one of the 62-member-strong Congressional Black Caucus, the largest to date.

But she also takes office in Washington D.C. at a time when Republicans hold a majority in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Prior to his second term, president-elect Donald Trump has already threatened to use government institutions to attack those he views as political enemies, and speaking broadly about mass deportation initiatives. He has also tapped Bynum’s predecessor, Chavez-DeRemer, as his nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Skanner spoke with Bynum on Jan. 6, the day Vice President Kamala Harris presided over a congressional session to certify Donald Trump’s election win. Unlike similar proceedings four years ago, the certification happened without incident.

“I think, to be honest, that God has his hand on the capital, because it snowed today,” Bynum said.

“The idea of a lot of shenanigans going on on a cold snow day, I think – there was a bit of natural interruption to that.”

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Skanner: What kind of priorities do you carry with you as Oregon’s first Black member of Congress?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: I would say that the things that matter to me are more aligned with being a mother, and in service to my own mother who was a rural kid, went to one of the last segregated high schools in the country, and it was a matter of her being a valedictorian but not having a lot of opportunities when she graduated. So taking that idea of rural kids, urban kids, underrepresented kids, and making this bridge between their talent and opportunity – that’s what I’ve been focusing on, just making sure every kid gets a shot.

The Skanner: When did it become clear to you that you wanted to hold office in the U.S. Congress?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: My service has always been about Oregon’s children, and that’s why I got into the Oregon state legislature. I ran on passing opportunity on, I ran on making sure that Oregon put forth the money that was necessary to have a full and robust school year and to continue to invest in education. And now, in Congress, again, I carry those same desires to build a brighter future for our young people. And I’m just leaning into being a mom, being an engineer, being a business owner, and bringing the voices of just average working families to Congress.

The Skanner: What is your approach to navigating this second Trump administration, personally? It is a much different scenario than presidential candidate and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris presented.

Rep. Janelle Bynum: Speaker (Mike) Johnson was offering his remarks during the swearing in, and I was looking for places where I could agree with him. He said he didn’t believe any of us were there by luck, he felt it was by providence. As a person of faith, I believe that as well and I’ve tried to just look at my life and the different checkpoints of my life that have brought me here, and what that means in terms of being authentic in my service and finding people who can accept common ground and really want to actually do the work. Just like I did in the Oregon legislature, for instance, with the 23 civil rights police accountability bills, it’s reaching across the aisle, it’s finding common ground, it’s making sure that we have robust discussions about what we want our democracy to look like, and how do we bring that home and make that simple and easy for Oregonians to understand? To challenge? And to live with?

The Skanner: How do you plan to counter Trump’s approach to governance?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: Here’s how I think about it: As a business person, I believe in being disruptive, like you disrupt the status quo. I think that’s what Americans want right now: Life is too expensive, our children aren’t thriving, we’re leaving them a lot of debt – there are a number of problems the American people want us to “disrupt.”

That’s how I think of it: Disrupt the status quo, but don’t destroy our democracy.

The Skanner: There’s a lot of talk about the importance of reaching across the aisle to reach bipartisan solutions, which seems difficult given an increasingly radical streak among your Republican colleagues. How do you plan to work through that?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: It’s a matter of being a strong enough leader to not get sidetracked by the distractions. The distractions are things like transgender athletes – that’s such a small number, and I recognize people have feelings about that, I don’t want to be dismissive. But in terms of the large problems of our country, there was just discussion of the lack of maternal healthcare in rural areas. We know that maternal mortality within the Black community is a huge issue. Those are the bread-and-butter issues that Americans want us to fix. We just had a bridge fall in Corvallis – our infrastructure is failing. We have schools that are over 50 years old that need replenishment and refurbishment. Those are the issues that Americans want us to work on. The distractions of Trump and his cronies are not something that I’m interested in engaging with. I’m focused on the work, and that’s what I promised Oregonians I would do. And I’ve been able to uphold that in the Oregon legislature, and I’ll continue to do that in Congress.

The Skanner: What are some of the Congressional Black Caucus’s priorities for the coming session?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: I think it’s historic to acknowledge it’s 62 members strong, which is the largest cohort ever in Congress, and the caucus bills itself as the conscience of the Congress. And so when you’re speaking out for people for whom the American dream continues to feel a bit elusive, we don’t all get there the same way, but we are all aligned on making sure that the lives and voices of Black Americans are at the table and are considered just as important as anyone else’s. And we have hopes and dreams for our children, and we care about our seniors. Those are people that are often left behind in a lot of our lawmaking, so it’s important for us to center those groups and make sure that they get their fair share.

The Skanner: We’re speaking on Jan. 6, four years to the day after the attack on the U.S. capitol that attempted to subvert the presidential election results. What is the mood on Capitol Hill?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: There are a lot of mixed emotions. Number one, physically, the infrastructure of the capital has been hardened. There’s fences and concrete barricades, you definitely feel it.

From a personal and emotional side, you could feel it. I could feel it amongst my Democratic colleagues that there was no way we were going to allow erasure of what happened.

And it was also bittersweet to see Vice President Harris have to exhibit so much grace.

And I thought about the fact that Black women are always having to exhibit grace in the face of, many times, brutality, unfairness, very troubled times, when the children of this nation sucked at our breasts and we still never got a fair shot.

The Skanner: How do you grapple with what must be pretty significant grief about Harris’ loss?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: I came into the Oregon state legislature when Trump won. I feel like he’s always been in the shadows of my legislative terms. I think for us it’s a time to acknowledge what happened but really to continue to work, and I think that’s what’s different for me as an African American woman – I don’t lean into a lot of tears, a lot of “shoulda woulda coulda,” a lot of regret. We’re expected to have a lot of grit, to have focus. For instance, my whole team is here today. We’re exercising leadership in the face of very hard times, but that’s what makes us different. 

The Skanner: You’ve outlined some of the priorities you’ll be bringing with you from your district in Oregon to Congress. Can you tell us, first, how you plan to advocate for wildfire support?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: As I understand it, the federal government has the ability to take more action in terms of reducing the amount of fuel, or burnable material in the federal forest. There’s also an issue with human-started fires, which in some ways is directly related to houselessness. And so having a conversation about, what is it going to take to reduce the fuel, reduce the causes of fire, whether it’s human-started or started by power lines? What is it going to take for us to tamp down the intensity and the duration of these wildfires? Because it’s affecting our economy, it’s affecting our health and it’s affecting our workforce. 

The Skanner: You’ve also used your time in office previously to advocate for children’s healthcare and other measures to fight childhood poverty.

Rep. Janelle Bynum: There’s a caucus here on the care economy. We know that Oregon, especially after the pandemic, really had issues with childcare deserts. We know that when we have adequate care, we have people that can enter the workforce and pursue the careers that they love. Children get the love and care that they need.

And we also have a challenge with elder care, and long-term care. Those are on the agenda in terms of making sure that the incentives are there for people to be able to move back home. One of the ancillary issues to that is the portability of insurance, the portability of your professional licenses, also that people can care for their children or get care for their children or for their parents as they age. 

Most people can tell you, ‘I had to care for my mom or I had to care for my dad near the end of their life,’ or ‘I had to move back home because I couldn’t afford $2,300 a month in childcare, and my mom and dad could help me.’ Those are real issues that people are facing. 

The Skanner: What committee assignment have you requested?

Rep. Janelle Bynum: I’ve asked for (the Committee on) Financial Services. I took my kids to the White House this weekend, and I’m always telling them, “Look around you, and look at proximity as an indicator of something.” And you know what’s across the street from the White House? The Department of Treasury. So the way in which money moves through our country – whether it’s through banks, whether it’s through insurance companies, whether it’s through our railways or our transportation infrastructure – when you watch the way money moves, you watch the conscience of the nation. You watch the values of the nation. And so our issues right now with insurance, whether it’s health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, long-term care insurance – those are things that are affecting the average American, and I want to make sure that we are putting in place the infrastructure that makes it work for everyone. 

But also, I’d just like to continue to raise the issues as a working mom that so many Americans are experiencing. We talked about childcare, we’ve talked about the really intense things that affect us, district-specific things like wildfires. But ultimately, what I am really looking forward to is my colleagues waking up and realizing that we have work to do, and this is not about playing games. It’s not about harming people and pushing forth this very extreme agenda. It’s about balance and compromise, it’s about making sure that the American people come first, and the rest of it is second. Whatever that is for people, Americans come first.