Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer was born on April 7, 1968, in Santa Clara, California. She was raised in Hanford, California, by her father, Richard Chavez, a Mexican-American member of the Teamsters, a prominent labor union in the United States and Canada.

After graduating from Hanford High School in 1986, she attended California State University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration, becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. Over the next decade, she built a career as a sales representative and business owner. She and her husband, an anesthesiologist, founded a small business—Anesthesia Associates Northwest—and operated several medical clinics across the Pacific Northwest.

Chavez-DeRemer’s public service career began in 2002 when she joined the Parks Committee in Happy Valley, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. In 2004, she was elected to the Happy Valley City Council. In 2010, Chavez-DeRemer won election as the city’s first Latina female mayor; she was reelected 2014.

Chavez-DeRemer ran as a Republican for Oregon House District 51 in both 2016 and 2018 but Democrat Janelle Bynum defeated her each time. In 2022, she made history by winning election to Oregon’s 5th congressional district in one of the most competitive races in the country. She became the first female Republican elected to the U.S. Congress from Oregon. Chavez-DeRemer served on three committees: Transportation & Infrastructure, Agriculture, and Education & Workforce. However, in 2024, she lost her reelection bid to Janelle Bynum.

On November 22, 2024, President Donald Trump nominated Chavez-DeRemer to serve as secretary of Labor. The Senate confirmed her on March 10 in a 67–32 vote, and she was sworn in the next day.