County commissioner announces campaign for state Senate

Courtney Bangs and Senator Suzanne Weber at the Warrenton 4th of July Parade - Left: Courtney Bangs, Right: Sen. Suzanne Weber

The Astorian

For many Clatsop County voters, the next state Senate race is still a distant thought — but for Courtney Bangs, it’s top of mind. Over the weekend, the Clatsop County commissioner officially launched her campaign for Senate District 16, announcing plans to seek the Republican nomination in the May 2026 primary. 

If elected, she would replace Sen. Suzanne Weber, a Tillamook Republican who was barred from running for reelection in 2026 after participating in a 2023 Republican walkout in an effort to stall bills on abortion, gun control and gender-affirming care. 

Bangs has served on the County Board of Commissioners since 2020, when she defeated incumbent Kathleen Sullivan in the race to represent District 4, which includes Knappa, Svensen, Westport and other eastern portions of the county. A few years ago, she recalls being approached to run for District 16, which encompasses Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties and portions of Multnomah and Yamhill counties. At that point, she declined.

“It wasn’t the right time for me. It wasn’t the right time for my children. It was just kind of an age and stage situation in our family’s life,” Bangs said.

But now, after many long conversations with Weber and Weber’s chief of staff, Bangs said she’s ready to take the leap — and she has the senator’s endorsement. 

“Courtney Bangs is exactly the kind of leader we need in the Oregon Senate,” Weber said in a campaign press release. “Her experience as a county commissioner, her dedication to our rural communities, and her proven track record of common sense governance make her the clear and only choice for Senate District 16 in the Republican primary and November election of next year. No one is a fiercer advocate for the people she works to protect than Commissioner Bangs. I cannot wait to see how she shakes things up in Salem.”

Priorities Bangs, who works as an academic director and teacher at Encore Academy in Warrenton, has more than 25 years of experience in education and has lived in the area for 17 years. She said her lived experience in rural communities plays a key role in the positions she takes on state-level issues. “I’ve lived rural a majority of my life, and have come to see the inequities that are attached to that in regards to the education that my children have access to, the healthcare that my children have access to, or that my older adult family members have access to,” Bangs said.