Incumbent Fragala faces Republican challenger Vivian in House District 8 election

Coming off her first term in office as a representative for House District 8, incumbent Democrat Lisa Fragala faces off against Republican challenger Bill Vivian. 

Before Fragala took office in 2025, Democrat Paul Holvey had held the seat for 20 years.

Fragala won the 2024 general election unopposed, with 97.4% of the vote, after no Republicans filed in the primary. It’s a seat that Democrats have held for over 25 years.

In seeking reelection, Fragala points to her track record as an advocate and an educator in Eugene for over two decades, as well as her deep roots in the district. 

But Vivian, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran with a background as a quality engineer, says there is a “change happening in the wind. It’s not just the fall season.” 

He hopes to bring that change to Salem. 

Here is what the candidates had to say.

Lisa Fragala

Fragala has a background in elementary education and has taught kindergarten and second grade at schools in Eugene for about 25 years. She also served on the Lane Community College Board of Education for nine years and chaired it for two years during the pandemic.

“I became an educator because I wanted to have an impact on the lives of children,” Fragala said. “As I was teaching over those years and also working as a community advocate, it became clear to me that there was work that needed to be done at the state level.”

In the House, she now chairs the Higher Education Committee and serves on the K-12 Education, Housing and Homelessness committee and the Labor and Workforce Development committee.

Fragala said part of the reason she is running again are the challenges created by federal policy. She listed cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called SNAP, which she said threaten healthcare and food access to Oregonians, including children.

In the 2026 session, she helped pass a package of bills responding to shifts in federal immigration policy. It included a requirement that K-12 and higher education institutions notify parents and guardians about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents activity, stronger anti-discrimination protections, tenant protections for immigrants, and the Law Enforcement Accountability and Visibility Act, which addresses masking and officer identification.

“I want to keep building on the work that I’ve started. I don’t see this as being about me,” Fragala said, “I see this as being about us, and I mean that in terms of a deep commitment to the people in my district, to this community but also to the collaborative relationships that I’ve built in the Legislature.”

Fragala said she is proud of House Bill 426, which she said strengthened enforcement against wage theft in the construction industry, and House Bill 4088, which strengthened Oregon’s shield law for providers and patients of reproductive and gender-affirming care. 

In 2025, she said she carried a climate education bill that wrote climate education requirements into state standards.

When asked what she would do differently, she said she wants to learn more about how the Legislature goes about creating the state budget.

“Something I wish I could have done differently is learning to navigate the budget process better, and so I serve on four committees,” Fragala said. “Those are all policy areas, and so I haven’t had the opportunity to serve on a budget subcommittee, and so there’s a lot I need to learn and do better in terms of the budget process.”

She helped pass a 2025 law that tightened rules on the corporate practice of medicine and limited private equity involvement in healthcare. She also wants to streamline housing approvals, expand childcare and support universal preschool.

If the Legislature needs to cut the state budget, she said she would fight hardest to protect education, the Oregon Health Plan, food assistance and rental assistance.

Bill Vivian

Vivian served as an electronics technician on a P-3 Orion aircraft, hunting submarines. He used the GI Bill to train in laser technology, then worked in laser research and quality engineering for aerospace, optics and biomedical companies. He said he also taught a two-year electronics and laser program at Jefferson College in Missouri.

He said he decided to run after seeing no conservative candidate on the primary ballot for House District 8.

He is concerned about what the Democratic supermajority is doing in Salem and wants his children and grandchildren to have good schools and affordable homes.

“I am retired, but I feel that I have a lot of quality engineering tools that I can bring to the plate and see positive change for south Eugene and Lane County,” Vivian said.

He mentioned that Fragala has a larger campaign fund as the sitting incumbent, but said, “I think that I am an excellent alternative.”

He said he has spent the campaign listening. He said he’s visited organizations, nonprofits and the Eugene Police Department, where he listened and took notes. He said he’s talked with demonstrators at protests.

“I’ve even held up my own street sign about my candidacy, and have (had) very civil conversations,” Vivian said. “I’ve got two ears and one mouth, and you know just how God made us, so I want to be a listener.”

Vivian said that his top priorities if elected would be affordability and schools.

He said his grandchildren rent apartments in downtown Eugene and pointed to homeownership as the “key to freedom.” He wants lower taxes so that families can keep more of their income.

On education, he said a lot of money goes into the school system, but the results don’t reflect the investment. He supports school choice and said he homeschooled his own children. 

He also wants parents to be able to opt their children out of a curriculum they disagree with, and he backs trade and short-term certification programs as alternatives to four-year degrees.

He also wants to lower taxes and reduce permitting red tape, which he said would help keep businesses in Oregon. He said he would also push for more accountability in how state agencies and nonprofits spend money.

Asked how he would differ from Fragala, Vivian said, “I would be standing on the other side of the aisle.” He said he would bring more balance to Salem.

Lisa Fragala

Party: Democrat.
Age: 59
Residence: Eugene 
Education: Master’s in education, Oregon State University; bachelor’s in environmental science, Binghamton University
Occupation: Elementary teacher, Higher Education Program coordinator
Prior elected experience: State representative; Oregon Women’s Council; Lane Community College Board of Education; City of Eugene Planning Commission 
Family status: Married
Total Contributions: $47,078.90

Bill Vivian

Party: Republican
Age: 70
Residence: Eugene 
Education: American Society for Quality Certified Quality Engineer
Occupation: Retired
Prior elected experience: Lane County Republican treasurer and precinct committee person
Family status: Married with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
Total Contributions: $907.24