Commissioner Shepherd

Commissioner Gabe Shepherd

Commissioner Shepherd took office on January 2, 2025. He is currently the youngest county commissioner in the state of Oregon, but already holds a wealth of knowledge about local government and the issues affecting the communities of Benton County.

Gabe Shepherd grew up in the rural community of Cheshire, Oregon, about a 20-minute drive from Monroe. He graduated from Oregon State University in 2018 with an Honors Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. Discovering an interest in government in 2017, he started attending Corvallis City Council meetings. He began to look for ways to get more involved at a local level. He became a volunteer aide for the Corvallis City Legislative Committee, a Corvallis Budget Commissioner, and the Deputy City Clerk for the City of Albany.

In 2020 Shepherd ran for Corvallis City Council and was elected to represent the people of Ward 4, which then included the College Hill Neighborhood Association, all of OSU’s main campus, and part of the West Hills Neighborhood Association. He was elected to a second term in 2022. During his tenure on the Corvallis City Council, he championed compensating city councilors for their work by voting to implement the first stipend for city councilors in Corvallis, he led the charge on Corvallis becoming the first city in Oregon to use Ranked Choice Voting, and he voted for both affordable and traditional housing projects.

He ran for the office of Benton County Commissioner in 2024 to increase his impact. “I have a passion for rural issues,” says Shepherd. “There’s a lot that can be done at a county level that can’t be done in the city. The county has more effect on people’s daily lives than they may know, and I want to work on the issues that are affecting people.”

Shepherd will be the County’s liaison to the Corvallis and Albany governments and his portfolio at the County includes health care and public safety.

Commissioner Shepherd can be reached by email at gabe.shepherd@bentoncountyor.gov or phone at 541-766-6800.