PORTLAND, Ore. – Several races are heating up as the 2018 Oregon Primary Election nears, including a tightening contest for the Republican gubernatorial candidate and a packed Portland City Council race.
Watch KGW election coverage here and see live results here on Election Day
Even in nonpartisan races, the effects of the 2016 election still reverberate, with centrist candidates facing challengers aligned with Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump.
Your vote in the May election will help decide who makes it to the governor’s runoff race in November, as well as who will move on or be elected to key state, city and county leadership positions.
Related: 5 U.S. primary races to watch
Voting: Key dates, stats
The election is May 15. Voters can mail in their ballots before the election (ballots must be received by May 15 – postmarks don’t count), or drop them off at a drop box. Find the closest drop box to you here.
Registered voters should have already gotten their ballots in the mail. If you don’t have one yet, contact your elections official.
Oregon has about 2.6 million registered voters, according to the secretary of state’s office. Oregon has a Democratic majority, with about 959,000 registered Democrats to 699,000 registered Republicans. But that doesn’t mean Democrats are a shoo-in – another 121,000 are registered Independent and 834,000 are non-affiliated.
In Multnomah County, Democrats are far more common – there are four times as many as registered Republicans. But since city and county races are nonpartisan, as is the race for the powerful state labor commissioner, political affiliations don’t always swing races even in the most Democratic part of the state.
For partisan races, the top candidates in each party will move on to the general election. In nonpartisan races, the top two candidates advance, unless one candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote. In that case, the candidate would win outright.
Voters are only able to vote in partisan races if they are registered with that party; for example, registered Democrats will only be able to vote for the Democratic governor's primary race. Non-affiliated voters will only be able to vote in nonpartisan primary races.
All voters, regardless of their affiliations, are able to vote in all races in their district during the November primary election.
Races to Watch
Note: This is not an exhaustive list of races or candidates. For a full list of candidates and races in your district, check out the Secretary of State's voter resources and consult your individual ballot.
GOP candidate: Oregon Governor
Incumbent Governor Kate Brown will likely sail through the May primaries to the November general election, but her GOP challenger is less certain. Bend Republican Knute Buehler had been considered the front-runner, but early straw polls showed Buehler doesn’t have a comfortable lead. Despite being the biggest GOP candidate fundraiser by far, Buehler narrowly won a Washington County straw poll over challenger, retired Navy Captain Greg Wooldridge, and lost the Dorchester Conference straw poll to Wooldridge. Businessman Sam Carpenter, also from Bend, appears to be gaining support.
Unlike Buehler, a state representative and doctor whose centrist views sometimes clash with far-right party members, Wooldridge and Carpenter veer more toward the president’s agenda. Wooldridge is running on a staunchly pro-life agenda, while Carpenter expounds his support for the Trump-Pence administration, the Second Amendment and opposition to Oregon’s Sanctuary State status. The early straw polls indicate Oregon’s Republican voters might prefer a candidate like Trump.
Also running for the GOP governor's race: Keenan W Bohach, Jonathan I Edwards III, David W Stauffer, Jeff Smith, Jack W Tracy, Brett Hyland, Bruce Cuff
GOP Candidate: House District 20
Flipping the House District 20 seat, which includes West Salem, Monmouth and Independence, may be Oregon Republicans' best chance to avoid a Democratic supermajority in the state House of Representatives. A political action committee is taking an uncommon tactic toward influencing that race.
Republicans are funding one candidate in House District 20 over the other Republican candidate. House District 20 is currently represented by Democrat Paul Evans, who narrowly won his seat in the past two elections.
A Republican political action committee called Promote Oregon gave $20,000 to candidate Selma Pierce, a retired dentist and wife of 2016 Republican gubernatorial candidate Bud Pierce. Promote Oregon has not funded her opponent, Kevin Chambers. Pierce is considered the mainstream candidate in the race, while Chambers includes protecting the second amendment and opposing any new gun legislation in his priorities.
Chambers told the Salem Statesman-Journal Promote Oregon's move was "unethical."
Washington County District Attorney
The nonpartisan Washington County District Attorney's race has made national news due to an unusual influx of cash and in-kind contributions. What's most interesting are the sources of those contributions.
Max Wall, a criminal defense attorney, is running for DA and says he will help reform the criminal justice system. He has received an astounding $473,000 in cash and in-kind contributions, including $100,000 from a political action committee called Oregon Law & Justice PAC, which is reportedly tied to billionaire George Soros. Soros is heavily funding several progressive candidates in district attorney races across the country.
Wall is running against Kevin Barton, a prosecutor who has received $167,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. His biggest contributions are from the conservative political action committee Action PAC, which is also funding state labor commissioner candidate Lou Ogden and several other conservative candidates in local and state races. Barton has also received a $25,000 donation from Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
City Council Position #2
Longtime city commissioner Nick Fish is running for re-election, while he undergoes treatments to fight abdominal cancer. Fish hasn’t let his illness impact his city council responsibilities, which currently include overseeing the Portland Water Bureau and the Bureau of Environmental Services. After Dan Saltzman’s retirement, Fish, a former civil rights attorney, will be the longest-serving commissioner on the city council, having first been elected in 2008. Fish has endorsements from The Oregonian, Willamette Week, many of Oregon’s top Democratic lawmakers, the Oregon League of Conservation Voters, and Bob Sallinger, the conservation director for the Audubon Society of Portland.
Fish’s biggest challenger is community organizer Julia DeGraw, who is perhaps best known for leading the fight for Food and Water Watch against Nestle’s planned water bottling plant in Cascade Locks. DeGraw is leaning heavily on Bernie Sanders’ playbook, turning away corporate campaign donations and championing equity initiatives. DeGraw has endorsements from BerniePDX, local environmental and immigrants rights organizations and Bill McKibben, a well-known environmentalist.
The Sierra Club recognized both DeGraw and Fish as environmental advocates and issued a joint endorsement to both candidates.
Also running but did not appear in voter's pamphlet: Philip J Wolfe, Nicholas Sutton
City Council Position #3
Several candidates are vying for the city council seat that will become vacant upon Dan Saltzman’s retirement this year. This race has heated up in unexpected ways, with Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, who is the candidate with the most political experience, failing to get endorsements from either The Oregonian or Willamette Week.
Smith is giving up her county commissioner seat to run for the city council. She promises to fight for vulnerable communities, and has been endorsed by Democratic lawmakers including Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), and several local unions.
Smith’s biggest challenge comes from community organizer Jo Ann Hardesty, who both Willamette Week and The Oregonian endorsed. Hardesty is a former state representative and senior policy analyst for Multnomah County. She has vowed to address housing issues, access for underserved communities, climate action and police reform. Hardesty is Bernie PDX’s pick for county commissioner. She’s also garnered support from the Portland Association of Teachers, the Sierra Club, and Basic Rights Oregon.
Andrea Valderrama is another formidable candidate. Having worked for former Commissioner Steve Novick, Valderrama currently works for Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office as a senior policy advisor. If elected, she promises to focus on improving graduation rates, smartly investing in affordable housing and helping get homeless people into transitional housing.
Felicia Williams is also running for Saltzman’s seat. The businesswoman and former wildland firefighter said she will provide “effective leadership for Portland’s future.” She says she would address homelessness, public safety, livability, housing and earthquake preparedness.
Perennial candidate Stuart Emmons is again running for a city council seat. Emmons is an architect and urban planner who purports to have a solution to homelessness that others haven’t tried. His idea, called Portland Home Project, would end homelessness in Portland in four years, he says.
Also running but did not appear in voter's pamphlet: Lew Humble
Multnomah County Commissioner District 2
Four people are running to take over Loretta Smith’s position as Multnomah County Commissioner District 2. The frontrunner is Susheela Jayapal, a former lawyer for Adidas and court-appointed special advocate who is running on a platform of affordable housing and support for immigrants and refugees.
Jayapal has a long list of endorsements, including The Oregonian, Willamette Week, former Governor Barbara Roberts.
Her biggest challenger is likely Maria Garcia, the owner of Revolucion Coffee House. Garcia is running on a democratic socialist platform and has the support of BerniePDX, along with several human rights advocates.
Also running is Sharon Yvette Maxwell, a general contractor who has served on several local advisory boards. She has endorsements from former state senator Avel Gordly, Dave’s Killer Bread founder Dave Dahl, and former Trailblazer Greg Smith.
The fourth candidate is Bruce Broussard, the Vietnam veteran and former Portland Observer newspaper publisher who ran for Portland mayor in 2016. Despite listing “Oregon Governor” as part of his prior governmental experience in the county voter’s pamphlet, Broussard has not served as the governor in Oregon.
Broussard does not have any official endorsements. Interestingly, he hosted competing candidate Maxwell on his YouTube show, Oregon Voter Digest.
Oregon Labor Commissioner
Outgoing labor commissioner Brad Avakian brought media attention to Oregon’s nonpartisan yet powerful labor commissioner position, when he levied hefty fines in controversial civil rights cases including that of the Sweet Cakes by Melissa, a Gresham bakery who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Avakian also reached settlements with powerful companies such as Daimler Trucks, which agreed to pay $2.4 million after six employees alleged violent threats and racism at the Portland-based corporation.
Although the labor commissioner is a nonpartisan position, Avakian leaned far left and his possible successors have long histories of political affiliation.
On the left is Val Hoyle, a longtime Oregon Democrat who served as state representative from 2009 through 2016. Hoyle lost to Avakian in the bid for Oregon Secretary of State in 2016 (the race was ultimately won by Republican Dennis Richardson). Now, she seeks the labor commissioner position. She’s racked up endorsements from former governor Barbara Roberts, U.S. Congressman Peter DeFazio, senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and several unions.
“Oregon must develop the economy and jobs of the future,” Hoyle said.
On the right is Lou Ogden, the current mayor of Tualatin. Although the Tualatin mayor is a nonpartisan position, Ogden is registered Republican and has garnered support from several Republicans including U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR). Ogden is running on a position of fairly holding businesses accountable.
“When companies don’t follow the law, we’ll help bring them into compliance, not force them out of business or levy outrageous fines,” he said.
Also running but did not appear in voter's pamphlet: Jack Howard
Children’s Levy
The children’s levy is up for renewal in Portland, which taxes homeowners 0.40 per $1,000 in assessed property value to fund programs to prevent hunger and child abuse, and early childhood education, after school and summer programs, and foster care programs. There’s widespread support for the programs created by this measure and it was proposed by longtime city councilor Dan Saltzman, who is retiring this year. But the question is, will voters approve the measure or shoot it down to reduce their high tax bills?
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