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.

As Ways & Means Chairman, Ullman proposed a national sales tax that became a hot issue back home. Oregonians didn’t like the idea, and in the 1980 Reagan landslide, Ullman lost his seat, 49%-48%, to Denny Smith, a 42-year-old airline pilot from a prominent Oregon family.

Smith held the seat for ten years after facing a series of hotly contested re-election battles. He narrowly beat Ruth McFarland in 1982 and 1984, and survived a campaign against State Rep. Mike Kopetski in 1988; he won by just 707 votes. Kopetski ran again in 1990 and beat Smith by a substantial 55%-45% margin.

Kopetski easily held the seat in 1992, but retired after just two terms rather than face what may have been a difficult re-election campaign. His successor was Jim Bunn, a GOP State Senator who defeated State Sen. Catherine Webber by a 50%-47% margin in a heavily Republican year.

Bunn lasted just one term after divorcing his wife and marrying his congressional aide; Hooley challenged him in 1996 and won 51%-46%.