GOP representatives walk off in Salem
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, February 24th, 2026 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories
SALEM – Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives walked out to illustrate that they feel the Democrat leaders in the House did not fully investigate a Rule 27 complaint against Rep. Jason Kropf (R-Bend) who is the chief sponsor of House Bill 4145, a firearm bill in which he is a chief sponsor.
The Republican representatives detailed the nature of their concern.
In the House Judiciary Committee last Monday, Representative Thủy Trần (D-Portland) initially voted no after expressing concern that the bill was contradictory, and could be harmful to lawful gun owners. Kropf then asked the committee to stand at ease, and Tran followed him into the hallway. When they returned about 10 minutes later, Tran voted in favor of the bill, breaking a potential tie with a 5-4 vote, and allowing it to advance to the House floor.
After a conduct complaint was filed, alleging Rep. Kropf appeared to “verbally abuse” and “intimidate” another lawmaker into changing her vote, Tran acknowledged it, saying Kropf “created a hostile working environment.”
Today, after Democrats delayed the House floor session for more than two hours, Representative Ben Bowman (D-Tigard) made a motion to accept Rep. Kropf’s resignation from the House Committee on Conduct and replace him with Representative Tawna Sanchez (D-North and Northeast Portland) without further explanation. The motion was then ruled undebatable.
“The allegation that a lawmaker created a hostile working environment by intimidating another lawmaker into changing their vote is a serious allegation that creates distrust in the democratic process,” House Minority Leader Lucetta Elmer said. “It must be properly addressed and thoroughly investigated through a transparent process that respects the victim and remedies the wrong committed against them.”
Elmer called on the Legislative Equity Office to conduct a full investigation into the matter.
Democrats issued a release which complained about the GOP members walking out. They did not raise the issue of wrongdoing allegedly done by Rep. Kropf as being the reason for the walkout.
