Deborah Kafoury

In 2018, she and the Oregon Nurses Association attempted to get a $2 statewide increase on tobacco the state ballot. The petitioners failed to get enough votes to qualify the measure for the ballot.

At the December 21, 2017, Board of Commissioners meeting, she called fellow commissioner Loretta Smith a “bitch” after abruptly ending the meeting when Smith was asking questions.

In October 2013, she resigned to run for chair, as required by the county charter. After receiving endorsements from several local newspapers, she was elected Multnomah County Chair on May 20, 2014. She took office June 5, 2014.

Born in Walla Walla, Washington, Kafoury received her bachelor’s degree from Whitman College. She is the chair of the Multnomah County Commission, where she succeeded Jeff Cogen. She previously held a seat on the commission, which she resigned in October 2013 in order to run for chair in the May 2014 election. She noted her work on renovations to the Sellwood Bridge as something she would continue as chair.

In 2008, Kafoury was elected to the Multnomah County Commission. As a commissioner, she worked on efforts to replace the Sellwood Bridge and the Multnomah County Courthouse.

Kafoury was a founder of the political action committee X-PAC and served three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2005, including a leadership role in the Democratic Party caucus.

Deborah Kafoury (born August 19, 1967) is a politician in the U.S. state of Oregon.