Christina Stephenson is on track to remain Oregon’s labor commissioner, a statewide position that oversees Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries.
FILE — Christina Stephenson is winning her race to retain her seat as Oregon's labor commissioner, and leader of the state's Bureau of Labor and Industries.
Courtesy of Christina Stephenson for Oregon
In early returns Tuesday night, the incumbent had 62% of the vote.
Stephenson has served as the state’s labor commissioner since 2023. Before that, she ran her own law firm where she regularly represented Oregonians experiencing workplace discrimination.
Her opponent, Chris Lynch, has spent two decades working in Oregon agencies that help regulate the workplace, including stints at BOLI and at the Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
BOLI investigates worker claims related to wage theft, lack of worker access to breaks or bathroom facilities, and on-the-job civil rights violations.
It also runs an apprenticeship program and helps educate employers on how to comply with Oregon’s labor laws.
Over the last decade, BOLI has been tasked with a growing array of protections for workers passed by the state legislature. But the agency has not received much in the way of increased funding or resources to enforce those protections.
It’s a similar story for many state agencies tasked with upholding an increasing number of Oregon laws without much additional funding.
“There were many, many new (labor) laws passed, especially over the last 10 years,” Stephenson told OPB in April. “Almost none of them included resources for BOLI to enforce those laws.”
Since Stephenson took over, she said BOLI has recovered more than $17 million for Oregon workers. The labor agency is state-funded, and in recent legislative sessions, its leaders lobbied successfully for an increased share of the budget for more positions at the agency.
Before Stephenson, the labor commissioner role was held by Val Hoyle, who is currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hoyle took over the position in 2018 after serving in the state legislature.
Stephenson’s rival in this election, Lynch, was critical of Stephenson and Hoyle for how they managed the workload at BOLI.
Stephenson has continually defended her record, saying she helped secure funding that added 70 positions at BOLI and helped accelerate the apprenticeship program.
