Oregon May Elect First GOP Governor In 35 Years

Believe it or not, Oregon might just elect a Republican governor on Nov 8 — thanks to a three-way race and voters fed up with crime, homelessness and public schools used as progressive indoctrination centers. 

In recent weeks, Republican Christine Drazan, the former Oregon House minority leader, has opened a 3-point lead over Democrat Tina Kotek, a former state House speaker. If she wins, it would be the first Republican victory in a governor’s race since 1982. 

“I’m very concerned,” Greg Peden, an aide to a previous Democratic governor, tells ABC. “I think this is the tightest race we’ve seen and the most complex race we’ve seen.”

Kotek’s support is being sapped to some extent by a wave-making independent candidate, Betsy Johnson, a former state senator who held office as a Democrat. A recent Emerson College survey found that 9% of Republicans support Johnson, versus 17% of Democrats. 

Running as a “pro-choice, pro-jobs” moderate who’s held an A rating from the National Rifle Association, Johnson is currently polling at around 16%. That’s well off her peak in the high twenties. However, as the independent’s showing has waned, it’s Republican Drazen who’s moved into the overall lead, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight.  

 

 

Drazan and Johnson have both hammered Democrat Kotek on festering crime and homelessness. 

“Public safety has become the top issue in a way it didn’t used to be,” GOP strategist Rebecca Tweed tells NBC News. “It really is a problem here in Oregon. It’s not just talking points.”

Drazan has also worked to tie Kotek to term-limited incumbent Democratic Governor Kate Brown, who has the highest disapproval rating of any American governor. Kotek’s campaign, in turn, links Drazan to Donald Trump.  

Oregon’s wealthiest man, Nike co-founder Phil Knight, recently chipped in $1 million to Drazan’s campaign. That’s after he’d earlier backed independent Johnson with $3.75 million. 

President Biden, who won Oregon by 16 points, is set to campaign for Kotek on Saturday.

“They are sending the president in right before the election and that only means one thing — they recognize that they are in trouble,” Oregon state Senator Tim Knopp, who represents the high-desert city of Bend, told KATU-TV.  

On Tuesday, Republican Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, who pulled off his own blue-state upset last year, will visit the Beaver State to campaign for Drazan. 

Education factored heavily in Youngkin’s victory, and it’s a theme being emphasized by Drazan and by Johnson, who recently told Fox News that “people are frightened and they’re mad” about what’s happening in Oregon schools. “Let’s not worry about pronouns. Let’s worry about mathematics.”