David Wu

David Wu (Oregon’s 1st Congressional District)

David Wu is a member of the 110th Congress representing Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. Wu was sworn in for his fifth term earlier this year on January 3, 2007. Stretching from Portland to the Oregon coast, Oregon’s 1st congressional district has a population of 743,195. Congressman Wu's priorities include: improving our nation's public education system and making college more affordable; growing Oregon's economy by encouraging new business investment and supporting high tech research; improving our nation's healthcare system and the Medicare prescription drug benefit; and meeting our obligation to future generations by preserving Social Security and protecting our natural environment.

David Wu was born on April 8, 1955 in Taiwan. He grew up in Portland, Oregon and has an impressive academic background that includes receiving a B.S. from Stanford University, a J.D. from Yale, and having attended Harvard Medical School. Wu is married to his wife Michelle and has two children. Wu started as a lawyer in the Portland area. His career includes a clerkship with a Federal judge in Portland, and in 1988 he co-founded the law firm Cohen & Wu. The firm served both the high technology industry and small business across Northwest Oregon. Wu is the only Chinese-American to serve in the United States House of Representatives. He currently is a member of the Executive Board for the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as Chair from January 2001 to January 2004. Congressman Wu is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition (NDC), a group of moderate Democrats in the House.

As stated above, Oregon’s 1st Congressional District has a total population of 743,195. It contains Washington, Yamhill, Columbia, and Clatsop counties, and part of Multnomah County. Out of the total population 577,767 or approximately 77% are sixteen years of age and over. 70 percent of them are in the Labor Force. Only 3.6 percent of the sixteen years and older population are unemployed. David Wu’s emphasis on education seems to have paid off in Oregon’s 1st Congressional district. Only 11 percent of the people in this district don’t have a high school diploma. 21 percent are high school graduates, and 42 percent have at least a college degree. Oregon’s 1st Congressional District has a very high percentage of white collar workers. 40 percent were listed as management, professional, and related occupations. 26 percent were listed as sales and office occupations. 12 percent were listed as service occupations, another 12 percent were listed as production, transportation, and material moving occupations, 7 percent were listed as construction, extraction, and maintenance occupations and only 1 percent were listed as farming, fishing, and forestry occupations.

Oregon’s 1st Congressional District industry breakdown is as follows. Manufacturing tops the list at 17.7 percent. Right behind it is Educational, Health, and Social Services at 17.3 percent. The other two industries that make up more than 10 percent of the districts industrial backbone are Professional, Scientific, Management, Administrative and Waste Management Service at 11.7 percent, and Retail Trade at 11.5 percent.

Oregon’s 1st Congressional District has 293,809 households. Less than 7 percent make less than $10,000. 22 percent make less than $24,999, meanwhile 50 percent make between $35,000 and $99,999.

Congressman Wu counts among his proudest accomplishments his work to help build scores of new businesses that have thrived and provided well-paying jobs for Oregonians. His fifteen years of experience in the Portland business and high technology communities make him uniquely qualified to represent the "Silicon Forest" district in Congress. Silicon Forest refers to a group of high technology businesses in Portland, Oregon that is responsible for the high level of wealth and education in Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. The priorities listed on Wu’s homepage include improving our nation's public education system and making college more affordable; growing Oregon's economy by encouraging new business investment and supporting high tech research; improving our nation's healthcare system and the Medicare prescription drug benefit; and meeting our obligation to future generations by preserving Social Security and protecting our natural environment.

Since January