Furse, Elizabeth, 1936-2021

Elizabeth Furse (October 13, 1936 – April 18, 2021) was a Kenya Colony-born American small business owner, professor, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999, representing Oregon's 1st congressional district. Furse was the first naturalized U.S. citizen born in Africa to win election to the United States Congress.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya Colony, she grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1955, she left South Africa to live in London, where she met and married an American doctor. They moved to Los Angeles, and Furse became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1972. The couple eventually divorced; Furse later married John Platt. In 1974 Furse earned a BA at Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington. In California, Furse had been active in the United Farm Workers movement led by Cesar Chavez. When she relocated to Oregon in 1978, she worked as the director of the Oregon Legal Services Restoration Program for Native American tribes from 1980 to 1986. In 1985 Furse founded the Oregon Peace Institute for nonviolent conflict resolution. With her husband, she also became the owner and operator of a vineyard.

Furse was first elected to Congress in 1992, defeating State Treasurer Tony Meeker, in a year where the number of women in the House grew from 28 to 47. In 1994, Furse, called by one Northwest newspaper the "antithesis of Congress' traditional play-it-safe politicians", won reelection by 301 votes, defeating businessman Bill Witt during a year when the Republican Revolution produced a 54-seat gain for her opponent's party. In 1996, Furse and Congressman George Nethercutt (R-WA) co-founded the Congressional Diabetes Caucus and authored legislation which passed in 1997 to improve coverage of diabetes education and supplies in the Medicare program. The Congressional Diabetes Caucus has since grown to be the largest health-related Caucus in Congress. Furse also was a key player in getting funding to extend the TriMet Westside MAX Light Rail project from its originally planned terminus on the Beaverton/Hillsboro border to downtown Hillsboro.

A believer in term limits, she announced during her third term that she would not seek re-election in 1998. After she retired from the House in January 1999, she worked as the director of tribal programs at the Institute for Tribal Government in Portland. Furse resided in Helvetia, a unincorporated Washington County community northwest of Portland, where she managed a winery with her husband. In 2014 she unsuccessfully ran for the position of Washington County, Oregon, commissioner. She died at her farm on April 18, 2021.