Pete Sorenson

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Pete Sorenson (born in Washoe County, Nevada) is a lawyer, member of the Democratic Party and a County Commissioner in Lane County, Oregon.

From 1977 to 1979, he was a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture during the Carter Administration.

While in private practice from 1982 to 1995, he also served as a member of the Board of Education at Lane Community College in Eugene Oregon. During his tenure at Lane Community College, Sorenson advocated strongly for dislocated workers' retraining programs and for childcare for staff and students. In 1993, Sorenson was appointed to the Oregon State Senate, and was elected to a full Senate term in 1994.

Instead of running for reelection as a State Senator, Sorenson choose instead to run for County Commissioner in 1996 and was elected to his first term. He ran for successfully for reelection as a County Commissioner in 2000 and 2004. Sorenson has run on a "pro-environment, pro-education, pro-senior, pro-regular taxpayer, pro-child, pro-civil rights, pro-civil liberties, and pro-people" platform. ^[1]

In January of 2005, Sorenson announced he would challenge incumbent Governor Ted Kulongoski, also a Democrat. ^[2] Sorenson was defeated in the May 2006 Democratic primary for Governor, receiving 16.27% of the vote. ^[3]