QuickTake:

The longtime Eugene Democratic legislator and former academic librarian says she is proud of her solutions-oriented approach. Her opponent did not respond to interview requests.

The Democratic primary race for House District 13 is a two-way race, but the incumbent  has won every election since 2006.

State Rep. Nancy Nathanson, D-Eugene, is running for another term. Nathanson appears poised for an easy primary win against Democratic candidate Kathleen “Kathy” Cantrell-Damewood, a retired Realtor and teacher who has maintained a low profile as the May 19 primaries approach. The winner will face Republican Jonathan Abrahamsen in the November general election.

“As long as I can be effective and introduce or help pass legislation that’s in the interest of my district and the interest of Oregonians, I want to remain involved,” Nathanson said in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “I’m one of the senior members now of the Legislature, and I think I have the experience and the skills to get stuff done.”

Cantrell-Damewood was unavailable for an interview following multiple requests from Lookout.

House District 13 is west of the Eugene Airport and along the northern edge of Eugene, stretching up beyond the city limits.

Nathanson has easily carried her district in each election since she took office. In 2024, Nathanson won with 67% of the vote in the 2024 general election against a Republican candidate. About 39% of voters are registered Democrats in the district, and 20% of voters are registered Republicans. The rest are unaffiliated or belong to third parties.

Besides Nathanson’s two decades as a legislator, she also worked in academic libraries, primarily the University of Oregon. She serves as chair of the House Committee on Revenue, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology, and the House Interim Committee on Transportation, among others. 

Credit: Provided

Name: Nancy Nathanson
Age: 74
Occupation: State legislator, former academic librarian
Education: Bachelor’s degree in urban geography, University of Oregon, 1975. Previously attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
Residence: Eugene 
Prior elected experience: First state legislator in 2006, previously served three terms on the Eugene City Council, 1993-2004.
Family status: Married 

As chair of the House Revenue Committee, Nathanson helped pass the Student Success Act in 2019, which put more funding into public education. That complex bill, which involved changes to the corporate activity tax, dominated the legislative session. 

Nathanson said her legislative career and approach is centered on finding solutions to issues, from education to health care and funding for much-needed projects and infrastructure, like wildfire-detecting cameras.  

“What I am most proud of is selecting topics that needed solutions that it seemed that no one else was taking care of,” Nathanson said. “And then I worked on them and passed legislation to protect consumers or protect seniors or protect college students. I’m very proud of that. It’s not just hopping on the bandwagon of a big idea that everybody already knew about, but finding solutions to something where no one else was working on.”

For example, during this past short session, Nathanson worked on bills that set minimum standards for urgent care clinics and reduced the time that caregivers and behavioral health workers wait for background checks to clear, allowing “portability,” which allows the same background check to be used when they move to a different employer.

Nathanson said she anticipates legislators will spend the 2027 session responding to cuts that the Trump administration is making to Medicaid and other programs. 

“The cuts that people heard about, that we were hit with this year, will actually continue for another four to five years,” Nathanson said. “For example, the cuts to Medicaid are huge and continuing, and the problems may get worse. Also, the federal government has pulled out of funding (for) so many things, they have changed the responsibility from federal to state for things, even cybersecurity and wildfire response. You know, they’ve even pulled back funding for weather forecasting and basic science research.”

“I think 2027 will be spent working a lot on making sure that tens of thousands of Oregonians still have access to health care,” Nathanson said. 

Asked about the issues related to health care in Lane County, including the conflict over contracting for emergency department services at PeaceHealth, Nathanson said she wants to see physicians remain in charge of patient care. 

Name: Kathleen “Kathy” Cantrell-Damewood

Age: Unavailable

Occupation: Retired Realtor/teacher

Education: Diploma/Bachelor’s degree studies in school and community health

Residence: Eugene 

Prior elected experience: None

Family status: Unavailable 

“What we’re seeing is that health care has developed into a profit center,” she said. “It seems like boardrooms and accounting ledgers have more influence than doctors on what patient care should look like.”

Nathanson said she’ll continue to review how Oregon’s corporate practice of medicine law is working. That law regulates mergers and acquisitions among health care providers. 

She said she plans to pursue legislation that she said would outline requirements for the physician in charge of a health care provider. 

Essentially, the bill would require that the person named the physician in charge of a clinic, doctor’s group or health care program has to live in Oregon at least 75% of the year and be “actively involved in patient care,” Nathanson said. 

“We need to nail down whatever loophole may exist,” Nathanson said. 

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.