Washington County District Attorney Challenger Gets Endorsements

BEAVERTON, OR — Brian Decker is looking to change sides from the defense table to the prosecution's side. He sees it as two sides of the same coin — working for the public good.

Decker's a public defender in Beaverton and since last month, he's been looking to unseat Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton.

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In just a few weeks, Decker is already getting a lot of high-profile endorsements.

Among the elected officials who have thrown their support behind Decker: Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beat; Beaverton City Councilor Nadia Hasan; Tya Ping, president of THPRD's board of directors; and Ugonna Enyinnaya, a member of the Beaverton School Board's board of directors.

Decker also has the support of Max Wall, a defense attorney who entered the race against Barton in 2018 just 10 weeks before election day and lost big.

Barton ended up with 68.4 percent of the vote.

Before moving to Beaverton and becoming a public defender, Decker lived in Tucson, where he was an assistant United States Attorney. In that job he prosecuted more than a half-dozen cases related to drugs and human trafficking.