Late Senator Robert Freeman Smith honored on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Capitol Hill, an Oregon political leader who passed away earlier this year was honored.

Both U.S. Representatives Greg Walden, from southern Oregon, and Frank Lucas from Oklahoma shared a speech commemorating the life of former U.S. Representative Bob Smith, who passed away this September.

On the House floor, Representative Walden said Smith ran 31 different times for election and never lost a single time. “He had a deep understanding of what it means to be an Oregonian,” Walden said. “He knew the needs of the surrounding communities, especially the rural part of our state.”

Smith was 89 years old.