Shemia Fagan

Shemia Patricia Fagan (born September 20, 1981) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the Oregon secretary of state from 2021 to 2023. She previously served as a Democratic member of the Oregon Senate, representing Senate District 24 from in 2019 to 2021. She also represented House District 51 from 2013 to 2017. In 2020, Fagan was elected as Oregon Secretary of State.

In May 2023, Fagan resigned from office after revelations that she took a consulting job at a cannabis company while her office was auditing Oregon's marijuana industry, which many considered to be a conflict of interest.

Fagan was born in Portland, Oregon, and was raised in Dufur, Oregon, and The Dalles, Oregon by her father, with her two older brothers. She attended Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, on a soccer scholarship, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion in 2003. She then started law school at Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Oregon, before earning her Juris Doctor from Lewis & Clark Law School in 2009.

After graduating from law school, Fagan became an associate at the Ater Wynne law firm in Portland, Oregon. She was an employment law attorney with HKM Employment Attorneys.

In 2011, Fagan was elected to the David Douglas School Board in eastern Portland, serving for three years before running for 51st District of the Oregon House of Representatives.

During her time within the State House, she served as the chair of the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Government Effectiveness. Fagan was elected to the 24th District of the Oregon State Senate during the 2018 elections; she chaired the Committee on Housing and Development and served on the Committee On Healthcare.

In 2020, Fagan secured the Democratic nomination for Oregon Secretary of State in a close three-way race, and went on to defeat Republican Kim Thatcher in the general election. As Secretary of State, Fagan focused on expanding voter access, exposing inequalities through the Audits Division, and increasing public engagement with the office of the Secretary of State. Fagan successfully advocated for a "People's Commission" on redistricting following the 2020 Census.

On April 27, 2023, Willamette Week reported Fagan had been working as a private consultant for the owners of La Mota, a cannabis dispensary chain operating in Oregon, while the Audits Division, which reports to Fagan as Secretary of State, worked on an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. Fagan's office released a statement clarifying she had recused herself from the audit before the consulting contract began. La Mota was found to have given campaign contributions to Fagan and other state Democratic lawmakers. Republican leaders of the Oregon House of Representatives and the Oregon State Senate released a joint statement calling on Secretary Fagan to resign.