Oregon Governor Megathread

[Gracile]

Schrader endorsed Johnson today:

https://twitter.com/senbetsyjohnson/status/1549494153263939586

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yah this is a pure tossup

[Utah Neolib]

Schrader endorsed Johnson today:

https://twitter.com/senbetsyjohnson/status/1549494153263939586

Somehow I find it odd that Betsy Johnson’s campaign logo is literally comically sized glasses. I get the idea, but still an interesting choice.

[NOVA Green]

Schrader endorsed Johnson today:

https://twitter.com/senbetsyjohnson/status/1549494153263939586

Schrader is a joke, he barely won reelection once you subtract Deschutes County out of the equation.

Somebody got an axe to grind, plus dude was always on the take of Big Pharma, Big Timber, Big Ag, Big $$$...

No wonder he is camping out in Phil Knight land....

Guy is a has been, wanna been, sell-out, fake DEM, jokster, simply a complete embarrassment, and if he is simping for "LIB PUB $$$", in an attempt to resurrect his political career, naturally made a major miscalculation.

Time to go back to be a Vet (Non-Military style), before he starts to lose clients from his practice in Sandy / Canby OR for his bizarre attempt to main political relevancy.

Maybe something like James Herriot's "All Creatures series"  ? :

https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/112127/did-the-actors-in-all-creatures-great-and-small-actually-have-their-hands-in-the

Clip from S01 EP13 from the classic British Drama, but don't believe it has the classic scene of a Yorkshire vet dealing with an intrusive scene, something regarding inserting arms into cows to save live stock, which otherwise would die (Or something of that nature).

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Schrader endorsed Johnson today:

https://twitter.com/senbetsyjohnson/status/1549494153263939586

I see Schrader is endorsing his fellow Republican

[Senator-elect Spark]

I can see Johnson siphoning off a bit of the vote to spoil it for the Dems.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

We'll see. If the media starts talking about how Johnson could swing the election to Drazan in October it might swing the vote back to Kotek.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I do wonder if Oregon had RCV if Johnson would actually have a chance by siphoning off a lot of votes form the middle and people who generally lean left but are unhappy with the current Dem government.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I do wonder if Oregon had RCV if Johnson would actually have a chance by siphoning off a lot of votes form the middle and people who generally lean left but are unhappy with the current Dem government.

Ron Wyden is on the ballot so I doubt that it's gonna be much siphoning off he will pull Tina Kotek over the top

I keep telling users be patient with the results like Progressive Moderate has an R nut map, there are gonna be Provisions ballots like last time Warnock and Osdoff won by 50 K votes on provisions ballots

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

Kurt Schrader may endorse Johnson:

https://twitter.com/danielmarans/status/1536427381375873024

talk about a sore looser

[NOVA Green]

So Oregon just had the first, as well as possibly only Gubernatorial Election Debate yesterday.

It's an Oregonian exclusive, so don't believe you get a free read towards your monthly limit, unless you are a paid subscriber.

VERY, VERY, LONG article, so hopefully haven't exceeded my allotment here.

Oregon’s three leading candidates for governor sought to differentiate themselves on issues including homelessness, abortion and climate change in the first debate of the general election cycle in Welches on Friday.

On climate change, all three agreed it is a pressing problem. Republican Christine Drazan and unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson said Democrats’ approach would cost too many jobs and raise Oregonians’ energy bills too high, however. But neither of them outlined proposals to dial back the state’s carbon output.

The highly unusual dynamics of Oregon’s race for governor were on display as Johnson launched a populist attack against Kotek, warning viewers that “she’d have us all woke and broke” and criticized Drazan for her opposition to abortion rights. Drazan attacked Johnson for speaking disrespectfully of her opponents in an effort to advance Johnson’s “political agenda.”

Drazan and Johnson both said they would do everything in their power, if elected, to increase timber harvests in Oregon and help timber manufacturers, including by potentially easing regulations on pollution.

The issue of racism also came up at the debate, when a question about bridging differences between Oregon’s urban and rural communities prompted Johnson to respond to Kotek’s challenge earlier Friday calling on her to publicly condemn the use of the Confederate flag “and all other racist symbols” at her campaign events.

Johnson did not address the issue of Confederate flags and their connection to racism. Instead, she said she personally does not condone racism or bigotry and that Kotek’s suggestion that Johnson’s Confederate flag-wearing supporters are racist “just drives home the point that urban Oregon doesn’t understand rural Oregon.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/07/oregon-governor-candidates-betsy-johnson-christine-drazan-and-tina-kotek-make-their-pitches-to-voters-in-1st-debate.html

Oregon Public Broadcasting has a pretty good read on recent Betsy campaign events. (Totally free no paywall)

Naturally since OPB is funded under the PBS system, PUBs in America tend to view it like many Tories view in England.

Regardless,

“I don’t care if you voted for Biden or Trump or you wrote in your dog, I want your vote and Oregon needs your vote,” Johnson tells the crowd, recycling one of her favorite campaign lines.

At the St. Helens rally, though, that kind of political diversity is hard to come by. Shirts bearing the Confederate flag and “Let’s go Brandon” — a coded epithet against President Joe Biden — dot the crowd, and most people you talk to tend to support one political party.

Three weeks after her rally at the Columbia County Fairgrounds, Johnson schedules a “Beers with Betsy” gathering at a tamale restaurant in Milwaukie. The liberal Portland suburb feels worlds away from St. Helens, and the 50 or so people who’ve come to see Johnson are just as distinct: It’s fairly easy to find Democrats within the crowd.

Here on Portland’s doorstep, Johnson’s sales pitch changes a bit. She doesn’t hold up Kotek as a threat to the state’s future – she doesn’t even mention the Democratic nominee. Instead, she focuses on the dissatisfaction many in the area are feeling.

“Eight percent of people in Portland think Portland’s on the right track,” Johnson tells the crowd. “I’d like to know who those 8% are because I sure haven’t met them.”

Johnson argues she’s the candidate who can turn the tide, nodding to a still-skeletal platform that includes easing business regulations, bolstering police and fighting homelessness. Her stance on those things isn’t too different from Drazan, the Republican. But Johnson says her long history as a Democrat offers an alternative for Democrats who’ve tired of their party.

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/07/28/oregon-governor-race-betsy-johnson-november-politics/

Not a debate coverage story but weekly metro PDX rag which you can pick up for free in just about any restaurant or bar worth it's reputation for free, Willamette Week, published this earlier this week.

NO-PAYWALL INDIE PUB

Former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), who is now unaffiliated with any party, reported a $100,000 contribution from Sid DeBoer, founder and chairman of Lithia Motors.

GOP nominee Christine Drazan reported a $250,000 contribution from the Republican Governors Association, a further sign that national money thinks a Republican could win the governor’s race for the first time in 40 years. The RGA has now given Drazan a total of $569,000.

AFSCME did not endorse in the Democratic primary, and many of its members are known to be open to Johnson—but Johnson’s campaign says she didn’t pursue the endorsement, a decision that shows she plans to run against public employee unions rather than try to pick off members who might be wary of Kotek.

“AFSCME is part of the public sector ruling coalition that is responsible for Kate Brown and Tina Kotek,” says Johnson’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Sitton. “They and the teachers’ union bosses work for [Service Employees International Union], not their members.”

https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2022/07/28/endorsements-hint-at-shape-of-oregon-governors-race/

[NOVA Green]

The Oregonian does a follow-up regarding confederate flags to the three major candidates running for election to become the next GOV-OR:

Betsy Johnson: “I’d say the Confederate flag is a symbol of treason against the United States, which protects the very freedom of speech flaunted so brazenly by those demonstrating their ignorance and racism.

“Displaying that flag is nothing less than provocative bigotry. The Confederate flag and the views it represents are the opposite of what our campaign is about as we seek to bring this state together past the extremism that dominates politics today.”

“Now the straight talk: This question doesn’t clarify anything about any of the candidates running for governor. We are all against racism.”

“The Oregonian’s question grants a false premise: I haven’t seen people waving Confederate flags anywhere on the campaign trail. One OPB reporter wrote about a guy in a T-shirt at one of my signature gathering events. Some guy wearing a T-shirt in a crowd of hundreds isn’t a movement, it’s an outlier. It’s a lazy journalist stirring up controversy, seized on by those who want to discredit our people-centered campaign.”

“Trying to create a controversy where there isn’t one was exactly what I was responding to when Tina started all this with her original internet post. Now The Oregonian is choosing shallow muckraking over responsible coverage. It may drive clicks, but it doesn’t help bring a divided state together.”

Tina Kotek: “It’s important for campaign events to be welcoming to all Oregonians. The Confederate flag is a widely recognized symbol of racist intolerance. If someone were to display a Confederate flag at one of my events, a member of my team would politely have a one-on-one conversation requesting that the symbol no longer be displayed at our event.”

Christine Drazan: Did not answer. John Burke, Drazan’s communications director, wrote in an email that “This has not been an issue at our campaign events, but Confederate flags would obviously not be welcome.”

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/oregon-candidates-for-governor-how-would-they-respond-if-supporters-displayed-confederate-flags-at-events.html

[NOVA Green]

Also, looks like we might be hearing a bit more in the "Air Wars" in OR from Kotek, before too long.

Living down in "PUB Country" in the "Mid-Valley" already listened to so many Betsy & Drazen ads, but suspect that will change in the immediate future:

Oregon voters will be hearing a lot more from Democratic candidate for governor Tina Kotek, after the former state House speaker spent $450,000 Friday on TV and radio advertising.

Kotek’s campaign made the big ad purchase a couple days after Kotek received $800,000 from the Democratic Governors Association and $100,000 from the statewide teachers union, the Oregon Education Association, according to state campaign finance records.

The Portland Democrat also received $100,000 last week from the Oregon Nurses Association union. Kotek now has $1.7 million on-hand, out of $5.2 million raised since January 2021.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/oregon-democratic-governor-candidate-tina-kotek-takes-in-big-bucks-from-national-democrats-teachers-union.html

[OSR stands with Israel]

I’ll watch the debate this weekend when I have some time

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Tina Kotek will win I am sure there will be Provisional ballots in alot of these races and Ron Wyden is on the nallot

[NOVA Green]

Likely nothing to see here, but the Betsy campaign facing a bit of heat from political opinions of a former staffer way back in the days...

Limited quoting from much longer article...

For more than eight and a half years, Oregon unaffiliated gubernatorial candidate and former longtime lawmaker Betsy Johnson employed a woman as a legislative staffer who repeatedly voiced hateful views online toward Black, Muslim and LGBTQ people.

At the same time Pamela Fitzsimmons was a long-tenured staffer to Johnson, she maintained a Twitter account and a blog, Held to Answer, where she repeatedly referred to Black people as criminals, railed against the Black Lives Matter movement, said Black civil rights organizations needed segregation and hate crimes for their survival, questioned whether a Black man wanted to be shot by police for publicity, called LGBTQ rights activists “bullies,” said transgender individuals who share their stories were attention-seeking and wrote that the U.S. Constitution “might be a lot worse” if Muslims had participated in its writing. She wrote her name at the end of each blog post.

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/longtime-legislative-staffer-for-betsy-johnson-repeatedly-voiced-hateful-views-online-toward-black-muslim-and-lgbtq-people.html

[wbrocks67]

Honestly, Johnson seems more and more like a quack and a dud the more her "campaign" continues.

[NOVA Green]

Also, WW has run some numbers since the last financial filing reports...

In OR "Freedom of Speech" now equals unlimited campaign contributions.

Looks like either WW week is hacked or some issues with my PC, so unfortunately can't provide a direct quote or two.

Basically Betsy is sitting fat on cash courtesy of large donors, with the Timber Industry now sinking in massive $$$.

Kotek is getting massive infusions from the DEM NGA PAC.

PUB Women is also getting massive injections of $$$ from outside interests.

Personally already getting tired of OR-GOV ads on TV from all three candidates, and we are still only in August!!!


https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

[Orwell]

Also, WW has run some numbers since the last financial filing reports...

In OR "Freedom of Speech" now equals unlimited campaign contributions.

Looks like either WW week is hacked or some issues with my PC, so unfortunately can't provide a direct quote or two.

Basically Betsy is sitting fat on cash courtesy of large donors, with the Timber Industry now sinking in massive $$$.

Kotek is getting massive infusions from the DEM NGA PAC.

PUB Women is also getting massive injections of $$$ from outside interests.

Personally already getting tired of OR-GOV ads on TV from all three candidates, and we are still only in August!!!


https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

Don't forget Betsy is in the pocket of the only relevant person from Oregon, Phil Knight. PBUH

[NOVA Green]

Also, WW has run some numbers since the last financial filing reports...

In OR "Freedom of Speech" now equals unlimited campaign contributions.

Looks like either WW week is hacked or some issues with my PC, so unfortunately can't provide a direct quote or two.

Basically Betsy is sitting fat on cash courtesy of large donors, with the Timber Industry now sinking in massive $$$.

Kotek is getting massive infusions from the DEM NGA PAC.

PUB Women is also getting massive injections of $$$ from outside interests.

Personally already getting tired of OR-GOV ads on TV from all three candidates, and we are still only in August!!!


https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

Don't forget Betsy is in the pocket of the only relevant person from Oregon, Phil Knight. PBUH

So yes you are correct, plus a bit more...

Still, Betsy isn't just getting money from Phil Knight, but is also apparently splitting Timber Industry Big $$$, that would traditionally go to the PUB OR-GOV candidate...

Here were a few quotes from the non-paywall article was gonna post, before my Chrome Crashed...

The biggest donation of the week was $800,000 from the Democratic Governors Association to Democrat Tina Kotek. It, along with $100,000 checks from the Oregon Education Association and the Oregon Nurses Association, helped to bring Kotek even with her Republican rival, Christine Drazan.

It also shows that Democrats are taking very seriously the possibility that they could lose an Oregon governor’s race for the first time since 1982.

Both women’s fundraising trails behind the third candidate in the race, former state Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose), who is running unaffiliated with any party. Johnson has now raised more than $10 million and has $4.6 million on hand, having enjoyed the benefit of not competing in a primary race.

Also significant: Johnson reported a contribution of $100,000 on July 28 from Robert Freres, president of Lyons-based Freres Lumber. Freres and his family and company gave GOP candidate Bridget Barton $300,000 in the primary, so his decision to support Johnson rather than Drazan is a victory for the unaffiliated candidate.

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/04/all-three-candidates-for-governor-flex-fundraising-muscles/

Also forgot to add a legendary clip from Phil Knight and Michael Moore way back in the dayz...

Got nothing against Nike per se, had a couple friends who worked their as contractors back in the late '90s who described all of the awesome amenities, including a couple full "Micro-Brew" facilities located on campus, not to mention some of the various fitness features...

But yeah... Phil Knight has effectively tried to make himself a "Kingmaker" in Oregon Politics, now that there is unlimited campaign contributions for statewide elections.

Phil might own U of O and the UO Alum, but he doesn't own Oregonians, and can just sit down a do a $5k max contribution to a political candidate, which is well beyond the individual of those of us who live paycheck to paycheck, where maybe something like $15-25 / weekly might fall within a budget for a brief period of time.

[NOVA Green]

New Oregonian Subscriber Exclusive, so apologizes in advance for very limited quoting:

The Republican Governors Association made a $1 million donation to the campaign of Christine Drazan, Republican nominee for Oregon governor, on Friday.

That brought the national governors’ group’s donations to Drazan to $1.57 million, $1.5 million of it in cash and the rest in polling and other in-kind gifts.

The group’s leaders are excited about Drazan’s prospects in Oregon’s highly unusual three-way race for governor featuring women who have all been elected to public office multiple times and proven themselves as effective fundraisers.

"Cash on hand"...

Even without a political party or governors’ association behind her, Johnson is far in the lead in fundraising so far. She’s pulled in $10.1 million and, as of Friday, reported having $4.6 million on hand.

That compares to Drazan’s $6 million raised and $2.7 million on hand and Kotek’s $5.5 million raised and $1.4 million on hand.

Might well be a case of the RGA either betting big for success, or perhaps more plausibly this result...



Over and Out... Live from Trump Country Mid-Valley OR.

NOVA GREEN



https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2022/08/republican-governors-association-gives-1-million-to-christine-drazen-republican-nominee-for-oregon-governor.html

[NOVA Green]

Interestingly enough, just saw this in the Willamette Week, shortly after my post of a few minutes back.

WW for those of you not particular with metro PDX was basically an "Indy Free Street Rag", which goes back decades, mainly surviving off of small business ad revenues, personals, etc...

Over the decades, it is still basically a free indie weekly which you can pick up in all sorts of places throughout metro PDX, but in many ways is in some ways a contender against the mighty Oregonian, and increasingly has connections to the political world as well.

At the first debate of the three candidates for Oregon governor, Democrat Tina Kotek talked about her first job in politics—one that set the tone for her rise to become the longest-serving House speaker in Oregon history.

“I began public service at the Oregon Food Bank,” Kotek said at the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association debate July 29.

“I was attracted to their mission to end hunger, not just feed people,” Kotek explains on her campaign website. “And because I was raised as a person of faith with a belief in the inherent value of everyone, I knew I had found my calling as an advocate for others. I listened and learned and fought for ways to reduce food insecurity.”

But as Kotek seeks to distinguish herself from GOP nominee Christine Drazan and unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson, Rachel Bristol, who co-founded the Food Bank and hired Kotek there, is supporting Johnson. Not only that: Bristol, who retired as CEO in 2012 after 22 years at the food bank, is gathering signatures to put Johnson on the ballot.

Interview follows with no paywall access required...

https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/08/10/tina-koteks-former-boss-at-the-oregon-food-bank-is-supporting-betsy-johnson/

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

When are they gonna release a Ron Wyden poll with the Gov race

[wbrocks67]

Who is donating to Johnson for her to get $10M?? Similarly, Drazen with $6M?

Senate candidates in swing states can barely raise $1-3M and Christine Drazan can raise $6M? Huh?

[Orwell]

Who is donating to Johnson for her to get $10M?? Similarly, Drazen with $6M?

Senate candidates in swing states can barely raise $1-3M and Christine Drazan can raise $6M? Huh?

Phil Knight, founder of Nike, owner of the University Oregon Athletic Department, King of Eugene etc. etc.

Timber Lobby too