Mike Kopetski

In January, Darlene Hooley will become the twelfth  living former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon.  Oregon’s oldest living former Congressman is Wendell Wyatt, a Republican who will celebrate his 91st birthday on June 15.  Wyatt, an ex-FBI agent and the Republican State Chairman from 1955 to 1957, won election to Congress in a 1964 special election and easily held the seat in subsequent races; Wyatt won 69% in 1972, running twelve percentage points ahead of GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon.

The congressional seat Darlene Hooley is giving up was the one that once belonged to Al Ullman, who may have been one of the most powerful House members in Oregon history. Ullman first ran for office in 1954, when he challenged freshman GOP Congressman Sam Coon; he lost 53%-47%. In a rematch two years later, Ullman beat Coon by 1,375 votes (51%-49%). Over the next 24 years, Ullman had little trouble winning re-election by huge margins. Ullman became Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in 1975, after Wilbur Mills resigned amidst a scandal involving a stripper.