‘WHO IS MIKE NEARMAN?’

Republican Thrown Out of Oregon House for Plotting Armed State Capitol Incursion

He is the first-ever person expelled from the Oregon House of Representatives. His ambition now: to become a ‘Jeopardy’ question

A Republican lawmaker who aided a far-right incursion into the Oregon state Capitol has been expelled from the Oregon House of Representatives after video emerged of him plotting the raid. In a vote on Thursday, the House voted 60-1 for a resolution declaring that Mike Nearman’s decision to open a Capitol door to a crowd of protesters, some of them armed, on Dec. 21 last year amounted to “disorderly behavior”—enough to force him out. Nearman, who voted against the resolution, said that he had been fighting to keep the Capitol building open during the pandemic.

Oregon Public Broadcasting said that Nearman had faced calls for his resignation for months, but the pressure “exploded” after video emerged of him actively plotting the insurrection in the days before. Earlier in the week, Nearman told a radio host that there might be a silver lining to becoming the first member of the Oregon House to be expelled. “Someday you’re gonna be watching Jeopardy and somebody’s gonna say, ‘Who is Mike Nearman?’ And that’s gonna be the right answer,” he said.