As we know, Oregon is a Democratic stronghold that votes Democrat by over 10 percentage points in the presidential elections. And yet, on the gubernatorial level, the races are more competitive, especially since the 2002 election. Since then, the Democratic candidate won only by between 2 and 8 percentage points (Democrat by 3 points in 2002, Democrat by 8 points in 2006, Democrat by 1.5 points in 2010, Democrat by 5 points in 2014 and Democrat by 7 points in 2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2002https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2006https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2010https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2014https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_special_election,_2016And for the 2018 Oregon gubernatorial election, it seens to be once again a toss-up since Oregon Governor Kate Brown is leading her potential Republican opponents in the polls by only 2 or 3 percentage points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_gubernatorial_election,_2018#Polling_2Why is Oregon more competitive on the gubernatorial level than on the presidential level?
