Updated: 11:45 a.m.

Oregon Rep. David Wu has lost several members of his staff and political consulting team since winning re-election in November, the Portland Oregonian reported Wednesday.

The staffers who exited include Chief of Staff Julie Tippens and Communications Director Julia Krahe, while Lisa Kurdziel, the Democrat’s top fundraiser, and Lisa Grove, his pollster, also will no longer work with him.
 
The newspaper noted the exodus came “amid questions about Wu’s behavior during the campaign,” including a negative and loud speech to Washington County Democrats on Oct. 27 for which his office received complaints.
 
There was also an incident at the Portland airport two days later in which Wu requested special access to a secured gate to meet his children, who were arriving from Washington, D.C. Once there, he began greeting passengers as they exited the plane and asking for their votes while his children ran off down the concourse.
 
According to the Oregonian, Wu did not hold any public events in the three days before the election. The National Republican Congressional Committee took notice of his absence on the trail during the August recess, sending around a picture of him sitting at a Capitol Hill coffee shop while most Members were back in their districts.

Thanks to the Democratic-lean of his Portland-based district, though, Wu won re-election to a seventh term with 55 percent of the vote. But that was his lowest winning percentage since his first election to Congress in 1998, thanks in part to a tough landscape for Democrats nationwide and a well-funded and organized opponent in Republican Rob Cornilles. Wu raised $1.5 million and ended the campaign with some $58,000 in debt, while Cornilles raised and spent just more than $1 million.

Wu’s office provided a statement from the Congressman.

“My staff is the best in the business, and I take great pride in knowing that alumni of my office have gone on to incredible careers of public service at the highest levels,” Wu said. “I have only the utmost esteem for every member of my staff, present and past, and they know of my gratitude for their tireless work on behalf of Oregonians.”