Vacant Oregon House seat filled by former school superintendent

Oregon House District 26 has a new representative.

Sue Rieke Smith was appointed to fill the vacancy Friday night at a joint session of the Washington, Clackamas and Yamhill boards of county commissioners.

The seat had been vacant since

then-Rep. Courtney Neron, a Wilsonville Democrat, was appointed in early May to fill the remainder of Sen. Aaron Wood’s term

after

he died from cancer in April

Rieke Smith was one of three nominees for the position. The other two were Chelsea King, a former chair of the West Linn-Wilsonville School Board, and Mary Pettenger, a political science professor at Western Oregon University.

Rieke Smith was the

superintendent of Tigard-Tualatin Public Schools

. She retired from that position last year.

Speaking to the county commissioners Friday, Rieke Smith said, “I applied for this position not because I dream of a political career, but because my nearly five decades of public service as a trauma and public health nurse, a public educator and a school district superintendent uniquely qualify me to hit the ground running and ensure that the concerns of the citizens of the 26th District are well represented in the remaining weeks of the current legislative session and the 2026 short session.”