Oregon Democrat Governor Kate Brown is not currently running since she’s limited to having two terms. By and large her approval among Democrats during her tenure was deservedly high and I agree with this assessment. Currently there are three candidates running for governor of Oregon. We have Tina Kotek, a liberal Democrat and far-right GOP candidate Christine Drazen. See this website exposing Drazen’s hypocrisy and right-wing positions.
The fly in the ointment is Betsy Johnson who is running as an independent. Her television ads which promise she will solve Portland’s serious homelessness problems by emphasizing compassion and personal responsibility (another way to suggest they are irresponsible IMO) have been running non-stop. She has major donors including Republican Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
Oregon is a solid Democratic state at the presidential level, and has not elected a Republican governor since 1982, however, recent margins of victory in percentage points in the state's gubernatorial elections have been within single digits, and Republicans are predicted to do well nationally in the 2022 elections. Wikipedia
Johnson made the news earlier this summer when she called Portland “the city of roaches.” This insulting characterization was extensively covered in local media. I doubt it hurt her with her base of people who consider people struggling with homelessness and other problems to be nothing but roaches.
Her ads try to paint her as working across the aisle to unite Democrats and Republicans to solve all the state’s problems. As if this will ever happen. Perhaps not quite as much as in, other states and of course nationally, using reasonable and Republicans together is an oxymoron.
You can find pro-Johnson websites yourself including her own if you want to give them some traffic. Here’s an ant-Johnson website:
Tina Kotek is a very progressive candidate (here’s her website).
Everything I’d read about her impressed me but I had a unique opportunity to see her literally up close the other day at an event along with 100 residents of the senior community where I live. I came away from the meeting even more impressed with her.
She is not only comes across as poised and wicked smart, but she exudes a sense of ease and humor that I can see would help her connect with people who hold divergent political and social views.
My girlfriend and I sat front row center. I asked her how she would deal with “a very well financed candidate running a major ad campaign full of lies against her.” She noted that her approach was to offer actual plans and solutions to problems instead of empty promises.
Another Democratic candidate, Mark Gamba, a local mayor running for the state legislature, who spoke at our meeting also addressed my question and said “I’m not afraid to say Betsy Johnson out loud, she’s not Voldemort” which got a good laugh from the audience.
Tina Kotek and Mark Gamba
Jamie McLeod-Skinner (her website) also spoke impressively at the meeting. She is running for Oregon's 5th congressional district. It is vitally important that she wins as the US House race could see Republicans gain control.
Despite the confidence I heard expressed by Tina Kotek the most recent polls scare the crap out of me and I am sure that she is honest enough with herself to also be concerned.
If Betsy Johnson or Christine Drazan become governor of my adopted stated after moving here from Massachusetts, another progressive state, it will make a hard right turn. It won’t be as hard a right turn as it would be if Drazan were to win, but still would be hard enough to scare me.
Massachusetts is rated as the most liberal state and currently Oregon is rated as the eighth most liberal state:
Oregon was on of the first states to legalize abortion and it is protected in our state constitution. In 1997 the state passed its death with dignity law. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act legalized the use of marijuana to treat certain debilitating medical conditions in 1998. Marijuana became legal for recreational use for anyone aged 21 and above in 2014. We now have so many pot stores you can’t drive more than a few blocks in the Portland metro area without seeing one. Portland may not really have the most strip clubs as claimed, that distinction goes to Tampa, Florida, but it sure has a lot of them.
Portlanders like to brag that they are the weirdest city in America and Keep Portland Weird is a popular slogan. If you travel around you will frequently see people like this...
Everywhere you go you will see people with more tattoos than exposed skin and enough body piercings to sink a ship. Portland and its suburbs are very bike friendly with most well travelled streets having bike lanes and of course we have this bike ride (photos):
We are also very LGBTQ+ friendly and you see Pride flags everywhere you go not just in a Pride parade.
I hope the people who like to consider themselves to be members of the weird community realize that in order to keep the city welcoming and weird they have to vote Democratic. They have no excuse not to do so as we have mail in voting. (I only worry about people who are homeless and have no mailing address and thus may not get their ballots.)
Even with a solid Democratic majority in the state legislature a right-wing governor will thwart many of their initiatives and will be able to use her executive power to undo many of the policies of previous Democratic Party governors.
