{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://bynum.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-janelle-bynums-first-year-office", "Congresswoman Janelle Bynum\u2019s First Year in Office", "2025-12-22", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Janelle S. Bynum", "B001326", "bynum.house.gov", "bynum", "https://bynum.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "December 22, 2025\n\nImage\n\n2025 Video Recap\n\nCongresswoman Bynum took office at a critical point for our country, with the nation preparing to swear-in Donald Trump for the second time, our politics facing a deep partisan divide, and Americans dealing with skyrocketing costs. Through it all, her laser-focus on working across the aisle to deliver real results and to show up for her constituents has shown that she\u2019s the right person to fight for Oregonians in Congress. As Senator Merkley put it: \u201cFrom working together to lead bipartisan legislation to protect the environment to always putting Oregonians and our communities first, Rep. Bynum has been listening and securing wins during her first year in Congress. I look forward to partnering with her in 2026 and beyond to make sure Oregonians and all Americans have strong foundations to thrive.\u201d\n\nShowing Up and Delivering for Oregon\n\nCongresswoman Bynum hosted 94,000 Oregonians at 21 town halls across Oregon\u2019s Fifth Congressional District.\n\nShe made it a top priority to ensure all of her constituents could make their voices heard, so she hosted town halls in Clackamas, Deschutes, Linn, and Marion Counties, as well as over the phone.\n\nThis summer, Congresswoman Bynum traveledacross the district on her 10-stop \u201cGive \u2018Em Hell Tour\u201d, which turned out over 42,000 constituents, in response to the Trump Administration\u2019s cruelty and chaos.\n\nAccording to one constituent, \u201cBynum showed up and made it clear she was committed to employing every tool to fight back during these unprecedented times.\u201d\n\nWhen the City of Portland became a target for the Trump Administration\u2019s unwanted deployment of the National Guard, Rep. Bynum stood up for Oregon and called out the overreach.\n\nImmediately following the announcement, she held a town hall with over 13,000 participants to answer questions and show her support for the community.\n\nShe also took the fight to national TV and social media, emphasizing that Portland didn\u2019t ask for, need, or want troops in the city, and calling on the president to stop using them as \u201ctoy soldiers.\u201d\n\nDuring Congresswoman Bynum\u2019s first year in office, she helped the district earn over $160 million in federal funding. She also fought for over $34 million to fund investments in clean drinking water, public safety, child care, affordable housing, and more in OR-05.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum hosted 189 district events and meetings, including 35 roundtables. As a leader committed to showing up for her communities, she held over 200 constituent meetings, where she heard Oregonians' concerns and top priorities and consistently made herself available.\n\nVisits have been wide-ranging and tailored to the diverse communities she represents, from meeting with constituents at a brewery in Bend to talking with high school seniors about public service in Portland to riding along with a local Fire Chief in Colton.\n\nShe\u2019s made clear that showing up and hearing her constituents is a top priority for her: \u201cRep. Janelle Bynum, D-Oregon, had a promise for the crowd of dozens she faced on a coffee shop patio Saturday afternoon: She would go wherever her constituents wanted her to be.\u201d\n\nCongresswoman Bynum\u2019s office has responded to over 89,000 constituent messages and has successfully casework requests, returning over $806,029 to her constituents\u2019 pockets. Success stories include helping deal with the Social Security issues and getting money back from the IRS.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum was a vocal opponent to Republicans\u2019 cuts to healthcare and has continually stood up to protect her constituents\u2019 access to healthcare.\n\nLegislative Wins\n\nCongresswoman Bynum was appointed to the powerful Financial Services Committee in her first term, becoming the first Oregon freshman named to the committee in 28 years.\n\nAs part of her commitment to lowering the cost of housing, she fought to be named to the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, where she has introduced 3 bipartisan bills to address the housing crisis.\n\nShe made an early impression on the Committee\u2019s Ranking Member, Rep. Maxine Waters, who said, \u201cCongresswoman Bynum has a strong track record of fighting to address the affordable housing crisis\u2026 I have no doubt she will draw on her background and expertise to continue this important effort\u2026\u201d.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum has already established herself as a bipartisan, results-driven legislator, passing 3 bipartisan bills through the House to help small businesses during an otherwise historically unproductive Congress.\n\nIn total, Congresswoman Bynum has led or co-led 21 pieces of legislation, \u2013 16 of which are bipartisan \u2013 including bills to lower costs, protect Oregon\u2019s environment, support students, keep Oregonians healthy, support wildfire response efforts, and more.\n\nShe also quickly proved herself as a leader in Congress by leading 32 of her 33 Freshman colleagues in calling on Speaker Johnson to start focusing on lowering costs.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum has notched several local wins by successfully calling on the Trump Administration to change course. She called on the rehiring of laid off federal firefighters, which later happened, and advocated for communities impacted by the Detroit Lake drawdown proposal, by calling on the comment period to be extended, which it was.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum has delivered 25 speeches on the House floor, advocating for Oregonians\u2019 healthcare, reproductive freedom, and lower costs.\n\nCommunicating Effectively and Establishing a Herself as a Rising Star\n\nCongresswoman Bynum quickly established herself as a rising star in the party, speaking at the Democratic Caucus Leadership\u2019s press conference within her first month in Congress.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum has employed an aggressive \u201cgo everywhere\u201d media strategy, meeting people where they are, bringing her message from traditional and new media to social media.\n\nShe has made over 51 local and national television appearances, including on CNN, MSNBC, and NewsNation, and authored 2 op-eds.\n\nShe has made multiple new media appearances, including on MeidasTouch (5.7M YouTube subscribers), the Don Lemon Show (1M YouTube subscribers), and Hopium (150,000 subscribers on Substack).\n\nShe has also amassed over 51,000 followers on social media and generated several viral moments, garnering millions of views across platforms and coverage from the Oregonian.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum was a recipient of one of the awards in the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee\u2019s (DPCC) Digital All Stars Competition for creatively and effectively communicating to digital audiences.\n\nCongresswoman Bynum also successfully launched a newsletter program with over 72,000 subscribers, the most of any Democratic Freshman and more than most established offices, as part of her effort to inform constituents about results she is delivering at home.\n\nAs Democrats nationally have wrestled with how to engage younger Americans, Congresswoman Bynum was elected as a Co-Chair of the Future Forum Caucus, which focuses on prioritizing and giving voices to young Americans on issues important to them.\n\nLooking to the second half of her first term, Congresswoman Bynum will continue showing up and delivering for Oregonians. She\u2019s already established herself as one of the party\u2019s strongest communicators and one of Congress\u2019 most effective bipartisan lawmakers. Her impressive accomplishments during her short time in Congress \u2013 and in the current political climate \u2013 have Congresswoman Bynum well positioned to emerge as a leader in Congress in the year ahead.\n\n###\n\nIssues: Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://bynum.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-janelle-bynums-first-year-office"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8473708294332027, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}