Amongst Bernie Sanders’s last campaign stops within the lead as much as Tuesday’s midterm elections: a swing across Oregon, talking to hundreds in Eugene and Portland. His Senate colleague Elizabeth Warren had flown in only days earlier to stump for Democrats. Even President Joe Biden—who is just not probably the most sought-after surrogate this cycle—made a visit to the state last month. The Democratic show of force in Oregon is just not only striking, but likely an indication the party is frightened about November 8, and with good reason.
Oregon—a state Biden won by 16%, and where a Democrat has served as governor for nearly 40 years—has emerged as something of an unexpected battleground. An independent candidate, Betsy Johnson, who’s running as a more centrist Democrat, is polling within the double digits, threatening to spoil the race for Democrats. She’s siphoning off support from each of the opposite candidates within the race, former Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat, and former Oregon House minority leader Christine Drazan, a Republican. Proving to be a significant player on this race to interchange Kate Brown—considered one of America’s least popular governors, who’s termed-out—is none apart from Nike cofounder and very wealthy Oregonian Phil Knight. After initially pouring $3.75 million into Johnson’s coffers, Knight switched to backing Drazan. In an interview with The Latest York Times, he said he would do anything to defeat Kotek, characterizing himself as “an anti-Tina person” who said he’s displeased with how far left the state has moved. Last month, Knight donated roughly $1 million to the Republican candidate. Recent polling pegged Drazan leading the race with 41.7% support from likely voters with Kotek just behind her at 40.4% and Johnson at 13.2%.
“I feel it’s sort of yet to be seen exactly who [Johnson] takes more votes from ultimately…. However the one thing that is unquestionably clear is that she made it harder for Tina Kotek and the Democrats to attract a clean distinction with Republican Christine Drazan early on,” Jake Foster, an Oregon-based Democratic strategist who isn’t involved within the governor’s race, said. “This one is particularly close and unique within the sense that, I feel a big a part of it’s just the national environment—the midterms, voters considering each the state and the country are on the incorrect track.”
Money is pouring into the state: Kotek has led in fundraising, at a complete of $24.8 million. Followed by Drazan, who has raised $19.9 million and Johnson with a complete of $14.3 million, in keeping with CBS affiliate KOIN. But Democrats have found themselves facing tight margins. “It’s quite a red-letter yr for Oregon,” Rebecca Tweed, an Oregon-based Republican strategist, said. “There really has been an energy around Oregon towards fighting this established order that just definitely hasn’t been producing the outcomes and the solutions that we’ve been on the lookout for. I feel that’s created an energy for brand new candidates to have some momentum, whether or not they’re Democrats or Republicans.”
Hence, the string of high-profile Democratic visits in the ultimate stretch. Biden, Warren, and Sanders all tried to emphasise the threats to Democracy, reproductive rights, and social programs Republicans have said they may gut. But Oregon has not been immune from the trends shaping the political landscape nationally. The economy, Biden’s low approval rating, crime, and homelessness are dominating the talking points. Nationally, Republicans seized on images of downtown Portland being a hotbed of crime and vandalism to attain points about liberal governance, particularly throughout the 2020 protests across the murder of George Floyd. In Oregon, Drazan has made public safety a central message of her campaign, emphasizing the rise in violent crime in Portland, advocating for law enforcement, and the repeal of a drug decriminalization law passed in 2020.
The message has apparently worked on Knight—who has previously backed candidates on each side of the aisle—who told the Times: “One in every of the political cartoons after our legislative session had an individual snorting cocaine out of a mountain of white. It said, ‘Which of those is prohibited in Oregon?’ And the reply was the plastic straw,” to clarify his grievances with Kotek. He now joins the ranks of billionaires living in liberal enclaves having outsized influence on state politics. Some such efforts have been successful—megarich William Oberndorf helped bankroll the recall of former San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin, whereas others—former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, amongst others, backed the recall of California governor Gavin Newsom—fell flat.
