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 first round of results on Tuesday night. “In every single race where an incumbent House Democrat was challenged in the primary, the inc ..read more

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 reelection because they participated in a six-week walkout in 2023.  Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, beat back claims that he wasn’t conservative enou ..read more

Oregon voters decided to give a slate of state legislators a chance to prove themselves worthy of a promotion to statewide office in the November elections. Based on preliminary results in the primaries, Democratic voters want state Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis and the former House speaker, to run for attorney general. Democratic voters also favor state Sen. Portland Sen. Elizabeth Steiner in the state treasurer’s primary. On the Republican side, GOP voters are supporting Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum of Klamath County as he seeks the party’s nod to run for secretary of state ..read more

Money and endorsements mattered in Oregon’s contested Democratic congressional primaries, with state Reps. Maxine Dexter and Janelle Bynum clinching nominations.  Dexter is all but certain to represent Oregon in Congress, as the 3rd Congressional District based in east Portland and the Columbia River Gorge is overwhelmingly Democratic. Retiring Rep. Earl Blumenauer held the seat for nearly 30 years. Bynum, meanwhile, will face a formidable challenge in November as Democrats fight to take the 5th District back from first-term Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. The district, which stretch ..read more

Results will be posted shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 21. The votes for Salem mayor and the west Salem council seat include totals for Marion and Polk counties. Salem Reporter is only reporting results for contested local races. City of Salem Mayor City Council Ward 1 – Downtown, north central and portions of west Salem Ward 3 – Faye Wright, Fairview and Southeast Mill Creek neighborhoods Ward 5 – Northeast Salem Marion County Marion County Clerk If one candidate wins more than half the votes in the May primary, only that candidate is listed on the November ballot. If no candidate wins ..read more

On the eve of Oregon’s primary election, a group of Republican candidates and election deniers learned they won’t get to make their case to the U.S. Supreme Court to end Oregon’s mail voting system.  The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from plaintiffs, including state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, the leading Republican candidate for secretary of state, in a case that sought to overturn the method Oregon voters have used to vote in every election for decades.  The Supreme Court didn’t give a reason for declining to hear the case, Thielman v. Fagan. Marc Thielman, a former sc ..read more

Oregon’s House Republican leader sent state election officials scrambling this week after he used a minor delay in delivering mailed ballots to clerks in two counties to raise doubts about the integrity of the state’s voting system. The short delays county clerks in Douglas and Lincoln counties experienced were caused by a “miscommunication” with postal workers and were fixed by Friday morning. State elections director Molly Woon told the Capital Chronicle that the short delays were not going to affect ballot returns and certainly wouldn’t affect voters’ ability to cast ballots securely and sa ..read more

In 2022, fewer than 7,300 votes across four counties gave Oregon its second Republican congressional representative and contributed to Republicans winning control of the U.S. House.  Democrats in Oregon and across the country are now set on defeating first-term Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the 5th Congressional District, one of a handful of races around the country that could determine which party controls the House. But before they can take on Chavez-DeRemer in November, they have to choose between two standard-bearers. There’s Jamie McLeod-Skinner, the progressive attorney fro ..read more

Christine Drazan left the state House two years ago to focus on an ultimately unsuccessful run for governor. Now, she wants to come back. Standing in her way is James Hieb, the Republican veteran appointed to fill the seat when Drazan left in 2022. Hieb didn’t see himself as a seat-warmer. No Democrats are running in the 51st House District in Clackamas County, and the winner of the Republican primary is all but certain to take office in January.  Drazan comes into the race with a clear advantage: She’s known across the state from her second-place finish in the most expensive gubernatoria ..read more

With over a quarter million dollars in contributions, Julie Hoy’s campaign for mayor has shattered previous Salem mayoral fundraising efforts. But most of the business owners and developers who have spent thousands backing her campaign won’t say why they believe she’s the best fit for Salem. Donors have contributed $283,803 to the Julie Hoy campaign as of Friday, May 10, compared to her opponent, incumbent Chris Hoy’s, $56,810. The two Hoys are not related. The campaign reports available publicly show Julie Hoy, a restaurant owner serving on the Salem City Council, still had $41,248 on hand ..read more