Q&A: Rep. Janelle Bynum on what it means to be a 'disrupter'

WASHINGTON — “This foolishness they have going on here is insanity,” says freshman Rep. Janelle Bynum.

It’s an eventful time to be starting out in Congress, but in this case Bynum, D-Ore., doesn’t mean the early days of the Trump administration; she’s talking about House committee seating charts.

In the Oregon state legislature, “we sat D-R-D-R, because you could get to know people that way,” Bynum said. On the House Financial Services Committee, though, like nearly all congressional panels, Democrats all sit on one side, and Republicans the other. “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said.

“I wanted to see my friend Tim (Moore) from North Carolina, and he was way over there,” she says.

Changing small things like that could go a long way, in her view. “Incremental wins, I’m a believer in,” says Bynum, a former electrical engineer who went on to own McDonald’s franchises.

She flipped Oregon’s 5th District from red to blue, defeating Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer last fall (and in two state legislative elections before that). While some Democrats were pleasantly surprised to see President Donald Trump nominate Chavez-DeRemer to be Labor secretary, Bynum was not. “I don’t trust her, and I believe that she took pro-labor positions because I was in the race and I had her back up against the wall,” she says.

Bynum sat down with Roll Call this month to talk about her definition of “disruption,” her legislative philosophy and the feeling of coming home.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Q: You actually grew up here in D.C. and interned on the Hill when you were in high school . What’s it been like to come back, and how has the political environment changed since then?

A: It feels naturally chaotic, because it’s a new cadence for me. But it also feels like a time in this country where we need to have honest discourse. As a business owner, I’m a disrupter, and I do think the status quo in this country needed to be disrupted. Our kids can’t buy houses these days, they have student debt, and even our seniors, rent is rising faster than their Social Security is keeping up with.

You have these real, serious problems, and the person that the nation picked to lead us made one set of promises, and it’s turning out for some to be a lot different from what they bargained for. So I think that has to shake out. It’s a tough time for the country, and it’s a tough time to be a freshman member, but I think I’m cut out for it. I’ve had four kids and worked, and I had to bargain and negotiate, whether it was with the kids, with somebody in child care, with my husband or with whatever job I was working. And so if there’s anybody that can navigate it, I think it would be me.

Q: You have a long history with Trump’s pick for Labor secretary. You beat her three times, including, obviously, in this past election. What are your thoughts about her as a nominee?

A: People said on the campaign trail that it was clear we did not like each other. I would say we see the path forward for America’s workers differently.

I come from working-class roots. I understand what it means to not have a whole lot left over at the end of the day. I understand what it means for people to have protections at work. Like, OSHA is a real thing. We shouldn’t have such burdensome regulations that businesses can’t function, but it is important for people to come home after an honest day’s work unharmed. And so I just think her view of the world isn’t genuine as she proposes it to be, and I don’t think there’s much there there.

Q: So, safe to say, if you were in the Senate, you would be a ‘no’ vote?

A: I would never vote for her.

Q: You’re coming from the Oregon House, where you were in the majority, and you were able to pass the Oregon CHIPS Act . But now that you’re here as a freshman with your party out of power, how do you approach the job?

A: Constituent service is really important. I always say the power of the letterhead should never be taken for granted. You can do things to help make your constituents’ lives just a little bit better, and be an advocate for them.

And I’m trying to take small wins. Some people like to be a little more aggressive, and maybe they do get their big wins. But I have also seen, especially as part of the majority, if you try to take big chunks and you piss off too many people, they will come back and they will level the playing field. So you take off a fair amount, a sizable amount, and you keep moving forward.

Q: You’re on the Financial Services Committee. What are you hoping to do there?

A: Well, number one, I want to raise the point that all of this chaos is having an impact on our risk premiums. I was talking with a constituent just the other day, and he was like, all the stuff that Trump has going on is keeping interest rates up by half a point, which is impacting people’s ability to buy a home. Number two, and I don’t know exactly where this goes, but it is really important for us to look at private equity in the housing market and provide some guardrails, because right now it is not working. You can barely get into a lease, and then you can barely get out of it, and it costs too much. I think private equity is filling a gap and it’s being disruptive in the market, but I don’t think it’s being disruptive for good. And as I’ve said, I’m a disrupter, but I don’t want to see destruction in the process.

If you’re being entrepreneurial, you exploit a weakness or you fill a gap. That’s how you do it, right? However, you’re supposed to do it to benefit society — at least, I think so. As a lawmaker, I would hope that behavior would benefit society, especially as it relates to a basic need. So if it’s, like, sneakers, I don’t care as much. That’s a luxury item, so to speak. But here you’re talking about people’s basic needs.

Q: Have you had a “welcome to Congress” moment since you got here?

A: My husband came for the new member orientation, and he and I were riding on the bus together, and I was talking with some police officers. These were people who grew up here, too, and we were having a conversation as only people from D.C. could have, and my accent switched. People from D.C., or Black people anyway, they have an aura, kind of, and so that came out. And my husband was like, “I’ve never heard you talk like that.” I saw those officers again the other morning, and it felt warm, like I was seen. I’m still an outsider to this whole institution, but in the care and watering of me, I finally felt at home.

Quick hits

Last book you read? I’m more into music right now, ’70s R&B, Teddy Pendergrass. Every morning I wake up and I’m consuming a lot of news, so this is the way I wind down.

In politics, can the ends justify the means? Yeah. I consider myself a bit of a gangster legislator.

What’s the most meaningful thing you display in your office? (I have something) from my first high school, Banneker High School, and then on the other side is the Madeira School where I graduated, an all-girls boarding school. So my public school education juxtaposed with single-sex education, those things mean a lot to me. And then [I also plan to display] the pennants of the HBCUs. I’m a big supporter of HBCUs.

Your least popular opinion? As a Democrat, I would say I have a deep, deep sense of faith, and that doesn’t always feel welcome. It’s a part of my life, and we should acknowledge that it’s part of many people’s lives in this country.

Something your friends know about you that your constituents might not? My friends always would say that I wanted a big family. I deny it, but I do have a big family. I have four kids, which is unusual these days, to have a family that large. And I’m a sports mom. My son was playing for the Oregon Ducks, and he just entered the transfer portal.