I’m Courtney Bangs—Clatsop County Commissioner, an educator with over 25 years of experience, and most importantly, a mom of three. I have lived on the North Coast for nearly two decades, and my husband Derek and I are raising the sixth generation on our family farm in Knappa, just outside Astoria.

I am an Oregon State University alumna, where I earned a Bachelor’s in Animal Science and a Master’s in Agriculture Education. I have worked with students of all ages as an agriculture teacher, FFA advisor, dance instructor, academic director, and substitute teacher.

I first ran for County Commissioner in 2020 because decisions affecting our forests, roads, housing, and schools were being made that benefited Portland interests more than those who actually live our rural life every day. In 2020, I was privileged to be elected as a voice for my community, and then again in 2024. I now serve as Vice Chair.

As County Commissioner, I have worked to hold the county government accountable to taxpayers and have focused on getting results for every day problems that might not make cable news but affect working families like mine—reducing permitting friction for housing, fighting for rural infrastructure and flood protection, backing law enforcement, ending our childcare desert by expanding childcare options, and protecting working forests and the county revenue they bring in, which pays for necessities like schools, roads, and sheriff patrols. 

I also chair Northwest Senior and Disability Services and have previously served as President of the Clatsop County chapter of Oregon Women in Timber. I sit on forestry, conservation, economic development, and fair boards because those are the institutions that keep this district working and providing its residents all that rural Northwest Oregon has to offer.

I’m a Republican running for State Senate because I’m tired of Portland politicians with their one-size-fits-all agendas trying to dictate how rural families live and what we value. I’m sick of them neglecting our schools and roads and coming after our jobs and forests—all while they demand higher taxes and ignore our rising cost of living. They even threaten our rights—from preventing parents from deciding what’s best for our children, to endangering our girls’ by allowing biological boys in girls’ sports and spaces, to continually trying to deny our Second Amendment rights.

Standing up to politicians like Tina Kotek is not new to me. I helped defeat Kotek’s $4.3 billion gas tax, and I will keep fighting back against Portland’s costly agenda. 

I live and love the rural way of life every single day. I’ll never stop protecting what matters.