SALEM, Ore. — Oregon's attorney general is urging the state Supreme Court to promptly decide if former New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof is eligible to run for governor, after elections officials declared last week that he wasn't.
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a memorandum to the Supreme Court that the justices should take the case as Kristof has requested. Last week, Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said she and the Elections Division staff would work with Kristof's attorney's to ensure his appeal would reach the Oregon Supreme Court as fast as possible.
Fagan said the process needs to move quickly because it has to be resolved ahead of a March 17 deadline for the state to begin printing ballots for the 2022 primary election.
On Jan. 6, Fagan announced that Kristof was ineligible to run in this year's election because he didn't meet the three-year residency requirement for eligibility under the Oregon Constitution. Kristof contested the ruling in a tweet that afternoon and vowed to challenge the decision in court. He struck a similar tone at a press conference a couple hours later, decrying the ruling as a political decision made by "insiders" who were spooked by his campaign.
"My willingness to challenge the status quo is the reason state officials are trying to toss me from the ballot," he said. "That's also the reason I'm going to win this race and become Oregon's next governor."
During the Jan. 6 press conference, Kristof said he would continue campaigning while the court challenge plays out. On Jan. 7, Kristof announced he had filed a challenge with the Oregon Supreme Court.
Kristof grew up in Oregon and made his name over a 37-year career as a reporter and columnist for the New York Times. He left the paper last year while mulling a run for governor as a Democrat, and formally announced his intention to run in October.
