Biography

David Wu has represented Oregon’s 1st Congressional District since 1999. Focused on ensuring our long-term economic success, he has fought to strengthen our nation’s schools, support innovative businesses, and improve our ability to turn cutting-edge research into new products, services, and jobs.

Wu advocates for Oregon students through his role on the House Education and Labor Committee, where he has helped make historic investments in federal student aid and is working to secure funds for K-12 schools to reduce class sizes and make much-needed repairs and renovations. As a member of the Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness Subcommittee, he supports worker training for jobs in growing fields like clean energy and health care technology. On the Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee, he has helped craft health care reform legislation to make quality care accessible for all Americans. He has worked to improve job training programs and helped schools secure modern technology as a chair of the Congressional Community College Caucus.

Wu knows that innovation is the key to sustained economic growth, a healthy small business community, and the development of new green technologies to protect our environment. To grow Oregon’s innovation economy, Wu uses his role as chair of the Science Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation to encourage new business investment and high-tech research. Because economic growth is based on turning new technology into commercial products and services, he is committed to overseeing strong tech transfer programs. As a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of moderate Democrats in the House, Wu helps craft smart policies to create stable, well-paying jobs and ensure our competitiveness for years to come.

The first Chinese American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, Wu is a constant supporter of efforts to protect and secure human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad. He is the former chairman and current Education Taskforce chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, as well as a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Wu has lived the American dream. In October of 1961, at six years of age, he moved with his family to the United States after President John F. Kennedy signed an executive order updating unfair immigration quotas. He was educated in public schools, earned a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University in 1977, attended Harvard Medical School, and received a law degree from Yale University in 1982.

Early in his legal career, Wu clerked for a federal judge in Portland. He joined the Miller Nash law firm in 1984, and in 1988, co-founded the law firm Cohen & Wu. For a decade, the Cohen & Wu firm served the high-technology industry and numerous small businesses across northwest Oregon. Wu counts his work helping build new businesses that have thrived and provided well-paying jobs for Oregonians as among his proudest accomplishments during this time. His fifteen years of experience in the Portland business and high-technology communities make him uniquely qualified to represent the "Silicon Forest" district in Congress.