Jeff Merkley : Net Worth, Family, Wife, Education, Children, Age, Biography and Political Career

Jeffrey Alan Merkley is an American politician serving as the junior us senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party , Merkley served because the 64th speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009.

Before his election to the Senate, Merkley was a five-term member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing the 47th district in central Multnomah County at the eastern side of Portland. Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in 2008 and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins.

Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism within the Senate, and was the sole U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders within the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. He was considered a possible candidate for president in 2020, but he chose to run reelection to the Senate instead.

Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou and Darrell Philip Merkley. His paternal grandmother was born in Calliope, Queensland, Australia. He attended class in Roseburg, Oregon, before moving to Portland together with his family.

He graduated from David Douglas highschool, received a bachelor of arts degree in diplomacy from Stanford University in 1979, and earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Wilson School at Princeton University in 1982. After completing his academic degree , Merkley was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, performing at the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the safety of yank military technology. After his fellowship, he worked within the Congressional Budget Office, where he analyzed nuclear weapons policies and programs.

In 1991 Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.

Merkley started the Walk for Humanity, initiated the Journey for Mankind, launched development of the Habitat Home Building Center, and initiated a pilot program for "YouthBuild" during which gang-affected youth built homes in their own neighborhoods. He also served as Director of development at Human Solutions, where he worked to form available affordable housing complexes and launched Oregons first Individual Development Account (IDA) program, which helps low-income families economize to shop for homes, attend college, or start businesses.

Merkley was President of the planet Affairs Council of Oregon for seven years and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees.

Merkley has competed in and finished Ironman Triathlons. He has said his workouts help him manage the strain of his job.

Merkleys first cousins great-granddaughter, Rebecka Ann Carnes, was killed alongside eight others within the 2015 Umpqua junior college shooting.

Jeff Merkley Net Worth

Jeff Merkley Net Worth is $ 3.1 Million in 2021.

Jeff Merkley Family

Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou and Darrell Philip Merkley.

Jeff Merkley Wife and Children

Jeff Merkley and his wife Mary Sorteberg have two children.

Jeff Merkley Career and Achievement

Oregon Legislature

In 1998 Merkley was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon House of Representatives from the 16th district in east Portland (renumbered because the 47th district after the 2002 redistricting). He succeeded Frank Shields, who moved from the House to the Oregon State Senate thanks to term limits. In its endorsement, The Oregonian predicted that Merkley was the foremost likely of several Democrats to "accomplish something positive within the Legislature." Following the 2003 session, he was elected Democratic leader, and after the House Democrats gained a majority within the 2006 Oregon statewide elections, they unanimously elected him Speaker of the House within the 74th Oregon legislature.

During Merkleys tenure as Speaker, the Oregon House passed numerous major pieces of legislation: It created a state "rainy day fund" (a bank account to guard public schools against the consequences of any future fluctuating economy); increased Oregon public school funding by 14 percent ($1 billion) and state university funding by 18 percent ($1.4 billion), banned food in schools, expanded the Oregon commercial indoor smoking ban, revised the Oregon Bottle Bill, outlawed discrimination by sexual orientation and identity in housing and within the workplace and gave same-sex couples rights, immunities, and benefits.

U.S. Senate

2008 Election

On August 13, 2007, Merkley received the endorsements of Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski and former Democratic Governor Barbara Roberts. He was endorsed in December 2007 by the Oregon AFL-CIO, the states largest labor federation. The union federations leaders cited Merkleys 97% record of voting within the interests of working families and his electability during a election against the incumbent senator Gordon Smith. Merkley was the primary federal candidate to be cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon.

Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Smith in 2008, narrowly defeating activist Steve Novick and 4 others within the Democratic primary. Merkley was initially thought to possess only a moderate chance of unseating Smith, but a July 2008 Rasmussen poll showed him within the lead, albeit within the margin of error. By August, after strongly negative campaigning on each side , Rasmussen reported that Merkleys support had deteriorated, with Smith taking a robust lead within the polls. Merkleys favorable rating was at 42%, while his unfavorable rating had risen to 45%.

Polls taken shortly before the election indicated that Merkleys standing had once more improved, with Merkleys 12-point deficit turning into a small lead.

On election night the race was too on the brink of call, but media outlets including The Oregonian called it for Merkley on the morning of November 6, and Smith conceded later that morning. Ultimately, Merkley defeated Smith by three percentage points, 49% to 46%. While he carried only eight counties, one among them was his home county of Multnomah County, which he won by 142,000 votes—a deficit that proved an excessive amount of for Smith to beat. Merkley thus became the primary person to unseat an incumbent Oregon senator since Bob Packwoods defeat of Wayne Morse in 1968.

Merkley formally resigned his seat within the Oregon House during a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury on January 2, 2009. He was sworn in as a Senator on Epiphany , 2009. Upon his swearing in, Oregon was represented within the Senate by two Democrats (Merkley and Ron Wyden) for the primary time since Maurine Brown Neuberger served alongside Morse from 1960 to 1967.

Tenure

Merkley features a progressive record as a senator. He became the primary Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he would vote against the confirmation of Federal Reserve System Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing Bernankes failure to "recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to the present dark and difficult recession". As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Merkley became a number one force within the effort to pass the Wall Street reform bill. along side Michigan Senator Carl Levin, he successfully added an amendment, usually called the Volcker Rule, to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street reform bill, which banned high-risk trading inside commercial banking and lending institutions. Merkley also championed an amendment that banned liar loans, a predatory mortgage practice that played a task within the housing bubble and subsequent financial collapse.

He was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run insurance program. Merkley also championed legislation to offer new mothers private space and versatile break times to pump breast milk once they return to figure . Merkleys breastfeeding amendment was included within the health care reform law and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.

In late February 2010, Merkley again made headlines when he unsuccessfully tried to influence Republican colleague Jim Bunning of Kentucky to drop his objection to passing a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans. Bunning replied, "Tough shit." A spokesman for Merkley said that Merkley didnt hear Bunnings remark at the time.

In late 2010, Merkley began circulating a proposal about the necessity to filibuster so as to dam legislation. In 2011, he introduced a bill to reform the filibuster. He was joined by Senator Tom Udall of latest Mexico and Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Merkley was the sole member of the Senate to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination for president.

On April 4, 2017, Merkley held the senate floor for 15 hours and 28 minutes in protest of the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

In June 2018, Merkley received national attention when he attempted to go to a facility holding the youngsters of jailed adults who had attempted to cross the border to hunt asylum. Children were separated from their parents and placed within the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Merkley filmed his plan to visit a facility during a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. He was denied entrance and therefore the police were called and arrived as he continued to undertake to talk with the power administrator. He commented within the film, "I think its unacceptable that a member of Congress isnt being admitted to ascertain whats happening to children whose families are applying for asylum. i made a decision to return out here, go up to the door and ask to be let in." By midday the video had garnered quite a million viewers.