Political Action Committee
Basic Rights PAC
The Basic Rights Political Action Committee (Basic Rights PAC) is the arm of Basic Rights Oregon that endorses political candidates and supports political campaigns and other efforts. Our PAC’s goal is to support candidates at the state and local level who are champions for LGBTQ+ equality, and will prioritize issues that disproportionately impact our communities.
PAC Board and Endorsements
Our current PAC board is made up entirely of LGBTQ+ Oregonians, and is majority-BIPOC. None of our board members work or have worked for Basic Rights Oregon, but they do all have lived experience in progressive advocacy in Oregon. Each member is a volunteer, and each new member is voted on by sitting board members.
Endorsements are determined by a PAC board vote. The PAC board uses BRO’s mission to create lived equality for queer and trans Oregonians as a guiding principle in its decisions. Basic Rights Oregon staff assists in coordinating materials and facilitating PAC meetings.
When a candidate asks for a PAC endorsement, we send them an endorsement questionnaire, along with a deadline for completing it and turning it back in.
In some races, BRO PAC will hold endorsement interviews in addition to sending candidate questionnaires. In other races, our PAC board does not have capacity to interview each candidate, and will instead rely on the questionnaire.
Our questionnaires and interviews cover a wide range of issues that impact members of Oregon’s LGBTQ communities. That includes access to healthcare, nondiscrimination policy, housing and homelessness, public safety and policing, addiction and mental health, and others.
Because BRO is a statewide advocacy organization, our PAC gets asked to consider endorsements for many candidates each election cycle—sometimes that number is in the hundreds. We aren’t able to make endorsements in every Oregon race due to capacity, but we do consider each candidate who asks for our endorsement. We currently do not make endorsements in federal races.
Learn more about our PAC and endorsement process here.
Contact Our PAC Board
To request an endorsement from our PAC Board, or get in touch with questions or concerns, please email info@basicrights.org with “for PAC board” in the email subject line.
Apply for the BRO PAC Board
Thank you for your interest in serving on the board of Basic Rights Oregon PAC! We ask that you complete and submit the application form below to be considered for the PAC Board. We look forward to receiving this information from you.
If you are unable to complete the form on this webpage, please instead download the PDF version and return a completed copy to gaby@basicrights.org with “PAC application” in the email subject line.