State Rep. Hòa Nguyễn (D-East Portland) has died after months of battling cancer. She was 41.

Nguyễn first ran for the Oregon Legislature in 2022. That year, three other first-time Vietnamese American candidates won House seats , joining then-state Rep. Khanh Pham (D-Portland) to make up the largest group of Vietnamese American lawmakers in the country.

“This is meaningful not only for Vietnamese Oregonians, but all Oregonians because when we have diverse representation, we do a better job of solving problems for our whole community,” Nguyễn said at the time. The group would come to be called the “Phab Five” within the House BIPOC caucus.

Nguyễn spent her early life in Louisiana, moving to Portland during her high school years. She graduated from St. Mary’s Academy and Portland State

See Full Page