Former House Speaker Tina Kotek won Oregon’s primary election for governor in Oregon on Tuesday night by a wide margin.
Preliminary reports at 9:30 p.m. showed Kotek with 54.5 percent of the vote and Read with 33.4 percent.
Klakamas County has not yet counted a significant portion of the ballots Tuesday night due to a typographical error that forced election officials to copy many ballots by hand. But Kotek said Reed called her and backed off early in the evening.
“I am deeply honored that Democratic voters in Oregon believe I am their candidate,” Kotek said in a statement. “There is so much at stake: from protecting access to abortion to protecting our environment to protecting the working people of Oregon who are still recovering from the pandemic. With so much on the line, the Oregons deserve someone to fight for their interests. “
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Kotek surpassed and spent Read, investing $ 2.5 million to win voters compared to Read’s total cost of $ 1.9 million. Read had the support of former Gov. Barbara Roberts and former California businessman Bill Bloomfield, who supported everything from open primary elections and gun security measures to restrictions on the union’s political spending. But Kotek brought key support to the race from two of the state’s most powerful unions and other left-wing political groups seeking to elect voters to support their chosen candidates.
Aside from the brief and unsuccessful attempt by former New York Times columnist Nick Christoph to enter the poll, the Democrats’ primary was a relatively gentle and unsurprising contest between two longtime Oregon politicians who both began their careers in public policy at the same time. , after being elected to the legislature in 2006. This was despite the open race for governor this year, as time constraints prevented Governor Kate Brown from running for re-election.
Liz Kaufman, a recently retired political consultant who campaigned for former Treasurer Randall Edwards and former Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, said it was “stunning” that senior Democrats did not join the race.
“In the beginning, more people thought about it and were just quietly persuaded not to do it,” Kaufman said, noting that Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum was among Democrats considering running. Kotek announced his candidacy for governor in September, signaling to other Democrats that it may be more difficult to run due to Kotek’s strong ties to some interest groups, Kaufman said.
“If (Kotek) hadn’t come in, I think more people would have come in, especially after Christoph fell,” Kaufman said.
Reed and Kotek focused heavily on their leadership skills, how to deal with homelessness and uncontrollable housing prices, and their support for public safety personnel. According to sociological sociologists, all this is a major concern for voters this year. Kotek, who has focused for years as a legislative leader on increasing affordable housing, called the state’s failure to help thousands of homeless people “unacceptable.” Kotek and Reed said achieving adequate levels of police staff should be a key part of how the state responds to record numbers of shootings and killings.
Reed, who served for years in the Oregon legislature before being elected to the state coffin in 2016, focuses on his distinction from Kotek based on his experience in the executive branch. He criticized Kotek in a televised debate for not taking responsibility for the eight-month delay in launching the state’s paid family and medical leave program, a delay Kotek incorrectly attributed solely to the pandemic.
However, Kotek had a long history of shifting progressive political priorities that resonated with Democrat voters, including raising the Oregon minimum wage and introducing a new business tax to collect about $ 1 billion a year to increase school costs. And in an appeal to voters unhappy with Oregon’s political leaders, Kotek kicked off the campaign season earlier this year with an ad highlighting its toughness.
In the November general election, Kotek is expected to face not only the obvious Republican nomination of Christine Drazan, the former Republican leader in the House of Representatives, but also the unrelated candidate Betsy Johnson in what will be an unusually competitive tripartite race.
“Hilary Borud.”
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