Oregon state officials are looking for new ways to fund transportation projects and maintenance as fuel tax revenues decline. An Oregon Department of Transportation road grader works on clearing Oregon 11 between Pendleton to the Washington state border. (Oregon Department of Transportation) Oregon lawmakers are mapping out a transportation package for the 2025 legislative session to address the state’s long-term needs, from sustainable funding to new projects so Oregonians can safely travel throughout the state.  As an initial step, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation is ..read more

Multnomah County voters sent a message in the district attorney's race that they want the job filled by someone who slowly makes reforms. (Getty Images) Oregon’s highest-profile primary elections did not appear to carry strong messages: Voters sporadically showed what they wanted or didn’t.  But there were exceptions. Two examples in particular, both on the county level in Multnomah and Yamhill counties, were notably clear in demanding a change of direction from what had been endorsed before. The message in both was unmistakable: Extremes in experiments and ideological projects are unwel ..read more

Sami Al-Abdrabbuh and Sarah Finger McDonald, Democratic candidates in the state House District 16 primary. (Provided) Sarah Finger McDonald is on track to defeat Sami Al-Abdrabbuh in the 16th House District Democratic primary, according to unofficial results updated Wednesday. The two Corvallis School Board members ran in a competitive race for an open seat in the reliably Democratic district that encompasses Corvallis and surrounding areas. Current Democratic Rep. Dan Rayfield, also the former House speaker, is running for attorney general. McDonald has 5,073 votes to Al-Abdrabbuh’s 4,892, a ..read more

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle to its "Frontline" list of vulnerable incumbents. (Hoyle campaign) The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Wednesday moved Oregon Rep. Val Hoyle to its “frontline” list of vulnerable incumbents, signaling to donors that the first-term representative from Eugene may need help to keep her seat.  Hoyle’s 4th Congressional District, based in Eugene and along the southern coast, is one of three Oregon swing districts that could prove crucial to determining which party controls the U.S. House. She won her 2022 ..read more

Oregon’s economy continues to grow steadily, if at a slower pace than it has in recent years, state economists told lawmakers on Wednesday. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon’s economy continues to grow steadily, if at a slower pace than it has in recent years, state economists told lawmakers on Wednesday. That includes April personal income tax collections coming in higher than expected, leaving a “fifty-fifty proposition” that Oregonians will receive a $582 million kicker tax credit in 2026, two years after the state paid out the largest kicker in state history. The credit kick ..read more

Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, participates in a roundtable on homelessness in Oregon City on Jan. 25, 2024. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle) As a candidate in 2022, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer said the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law was “not a benefit” and would see “pennies on the dollar” returned to communities. But as the U.S. representative of Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, Chavez-DeRemer has praised the law and some of the more than $5.2 billion in Oregon-specific investments that have been announced in the past two years. When the Environmental Protec ..read more

Two House Republicans lost their primary elections on Tuesday. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Two incumbent House Republicans lost their jobs in election night blowouts on Tuesday as their caucus and most colleagues stood on the sidelines. Different factors led to Reps. Charlie Conrad, R-Dexter, and James Hieb, R-Canby, losing their seats: Conrad angered Oregon Right to Life by siding with Democrats on a 2023 law to widen access to abortion and gender-affirming care, while Hieb couldn’t compete with 2022 governor nominee Christine Drazan when she decided to return to the Legislature ..read more

All Democratic incumbents won their primaries, and one open race remains too close to call. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) All incumbent House Democrats won their primary campaigns, while one open race in Corvallis remained too close to call after the first few days of vote-counting.  With several Democrats from safe districts retiring or running for higher offices, most contested House primaries were for seats in which the primary, not the general election, determines which candidate will represent the area. And with one exception, all races were decisively settled with the firs ..read more

Five Republicans won contested primaries for Senate seats and are all but certain to serve in the Senate come January. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Family members of two ousted Republican senators will take their place in the Oregon Senate next year after primary elections that saw hardline conservatives win in southern Oregon and more pragmatic Republicans prevail in eastern Oregon. No Democrats running for the Senate faced primary challenges this year, but Republicans had several open seats because of retirements and a law that barred most sitting GOP senators from running for re ..read more

Voters need to drop off their ballots by Election Day or make sure they’re postmarked by May 21. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon voters will decide Tuesday who from each political party gets to compete in key local, state and national races and ultimately make it onto the ballot in the November general election.  Candidates in some races face little or no competition from other members of their party. But others, such as the race for the Democratic nomination in Oregon’s 3rd and 5th congressional districts, have kicked up fierce campaigning and eye-popping campaign contribut ..read more