Oregon state Rep. Brian Stout was removed from all legislative committee assignments this week, just days after a judge declined to dismiss a protective order filed by a woman who accused Stout of sexual abuse and a week after he was sworn into office.

Stout, a Republican representing House District 31 in Columbia County, had been assigned to two House committees: the business and labor committee and the economic development and small business committee.

House Speaker Dan Rayfield discharged Stout from both committees on Monday.

Stout, House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson and a spokesperson for Rayfield did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fellow legislators had signed a letter from a victims rights group earlier this month, calling on House leaders to launch an investigation into the allegations against Stout, Willamette Week reported.

Stout has repeatedly denied allegations of sexual abuse. He told a judge at a hearing Friday, Jan. 13, in Columbia County Circuit Court that he had a consensual sexual encounter with his accuser in 2020 but had not assaulted her.

Stout’s victory in the House District 31 race flipped a seat previously held by Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie. After new maps to be used redistricting 2022 were approved by the legislature in September 2021, the district’s percentage of Republican-leaning voters had increased.

Witt opted not to seek another term in the seat and instead moved to the Salem area for an unsuccessful bid for a different House seat. 

Stout had challenged Witt in 2018 and 2020 under the old district lines. Witt’s 2020 victory by 511 votes out of over 42,000 cast was one of the closest political races in the state. 

Stout won the Republican nomination in 2022 for the district with new boundaries and defeated Democrat Anthony Sorace 59% to 41%. It was part of a sweep by Republicans of the one Senate and two House races in the far northwest corner of Oregon. Rep. Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook, won the Senate District 16 seat previously held by Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, who had resigned her seat and left the Democratic party to make an unsuccessful non-affiliated bid for governor. In Weber’s old House seat, Cyrus Javadi won to retain the district for Republicans.

Stout, a native of Dallas, Texas, has a degree from Portland State University. 

Oregon Capital Bureau reporter Gary A. Warner contributed to this report.