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Walter Leslie "Les" AuCoin was born October 21, 1942 in Portland Oregon to Alice Audry Darrar and Francis Edgar AuCoin. In 1946, his mother moved Les and his younger brother Leland to Redmond, Oregon, where she supported the family on her own. AuCoin attended Redmond High School, where he joined the school newspaper and developed an interest in journalism. In 1960, he graduated from high school, the first man in his extended family to do so.

In the fall of 1960, AuCoin enrolled at Pacific University to study journalism and began working for the sports department at the Oregonian on the weekends. In 1961, he left Pacific University to enlist in the United States Army. For 3 years, he served as a public information specialist for the 2nd Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division, writing dispatches from his postings in California, New York, Kentucky, Georgia, and West Germany. In 1964, AuCoin was discharged from the Army and returned to Redmond, Oregon. That summer, he worked for the local newspaper, the Redmond Spokesman, and married Susan Swearingen. AuCoin returned to Pacific University in the fall, where he was hired as the director of the public information department while he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. Before AuCoin graduated in 1969, he and his wife had two children: Stacy in 1965 and Kelly in 1967.

In 1968, Les and Sue AuCoin began volunteering for Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign, eventually becoming volunteer campaign managers for Washington County, Oregon. Even after McCarthy lost the election, the AuCoins continued to work in local politics, and in 1970, Les AuCoin declared candidacy for an open seat in the Oregon House of Representatives. Sue, who had previously worked as a page in the House, and helped introduce Les to incumbent members of the House. AuCoin hired Bob Crane, a fellow Pacific University alum, as his campaign manager. This partnership would last for AuCoin's 22 years in office, and Crane would go on to be the chief of AuCoin's congressional staff for 12 years.

AuCoin won the 1970 election and was reelected in 1972, serving a total of 4 years in the Oregon House. During his time in office, he focused on environmental policy, consumer protections, mass transit, and civil rights. In 1973, AuCoin was elected the House Majority Leader and chaired the committee on the Equal Rights Amendment.

After serving four years in the Oregon House, AuCoin decided to run for the US House of Representatives from Oregon's 1st district. Representative Wendall Wyatt, the Republican who held the seat for the previous six years, retired and left the seat empty. In 1974, AuCoin won a five-way Democratic primary and ran against Republican Diarmiud O'Scannlain, the state public utility commissioner, in the general election. When AuCoin won the election with 56% of the vote, he became the state's youngest ever congressman and first Democrat ever elected to Oregon's 1st district. Nixon's Watergate scandal had resulted in a backlash against the Republican party, and AuCoin was one of 49 newly elected House Democrats in 1974. The Republican Party assumed that they could win the seat back in the next election, but AuCoin was reelected another eight times. The seat has remained Democratic ever since.

As a new member of the House of Representatives, AuCoin served on the House Banking Committee and the Subcommittee on International Institutions. AuCoin was a leader in the effort to normalize trade relations between the US and the People's Republic of China. When the two countries normalized relations in January 1979, AuCoin led the first trade delegation to China just one month later, traveling with a group of Oregon business leaders.

In 1981, AuCoin joined the House Appropriations Committee. While working on the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, AuCoin worked on bills related to tribal sovereignty and reservations for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. AuCoin also championed both local and national environmental protections, including the Oregon Wilderness Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

From his position on the Defense Subcommittee, AuCoin worked to limit US spending on nuclear weapons, encouraging investment in conventional weapons instead. He traveled with House Speaker Jim Wright's 1987 congressional visit to the Soviet Union, where he advocated for bilateral arms control. In the 1980s, AuCoin was also a vocal critic of US involvement with Contras in Nicaragua, even traveling to Central America to investigate human rights abuses.

AuCoin was a member of the US House of Representatives for eighteen years, serving during the presidencies of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Throughout his eighteen years in office, AuCoin was a vocal advocate for civil rights, environmental issues, and nuclear arms control.

When AuCoin left the House in 1992 to run for the Senate, he was 84th in House seniority, dean of the Oregon House delegation, a majority whip at large, and a veteran member of the House Appropriations Committee. He ran against Republican Senator Bob Packwood, who had held the office since 1969. Both the Democratic primary and the general election were expensive and contentious, and Packwood eventually won the election with 52% of the vote. Shortly after the election, the Washington Post published a year-long investigation about sexual assault allegations against Packwood. Further investigation revealed that the allegations were true, and in 1995, the Senate Ethics Committee voted to expel Packwood from the Senate.

After leaving Congress, AuCoin joined the faculty at Southern Oregon University in 1998 as a visiting professor of political science and business ethics. He taught until 2004, and he was later named to the inaugural board of trustees. He also served as vice chair of the board of trustees of Pacific University. AuCoin continued to be active in politics, campaigning in 2008 Barack Obama's presidential run. He continues to write on national issues, and in 2019 published his memoir Catch and Release: An Oregon Life in Politics.