Tagoregon

Stories about Oregon

Three Oregon senators become ineligible for re-election under Measure 113 as the legislative walkout continues

By Victoria Antram
In Ballot measures
May 16, 2023 at 10:14 PM

On May 15, three senators involved with the walkout—Daniel Bonham (R), Dennis Linthicum (R), and Brian Boquist (I)—accrued their 10th unexcused absences, a threshold making them ineligible to be re-elected to a subsequent term under Measure 113, a ballot measure Oregon voters approved in 2022.

The walkout began on May 3 when all but two members of the Republican Senate caucus were absent from the legislative session preventing a quorum. Democrats control the chamber with a 17-12-1 partisan breakdown with Republicans and one independent in the minority. Legislators need two-thirds of the chamber present for a quorum amounting to 20 senators.

The topics being considered at the time of the walkout were abortion, firearms, and gender-affirming care, which legislation defined as treatments that healthcare providers prescribe “to treat an individual for incongruence between the individual’s gender identity and the individual’s sex assignment at birth.” Majority Leader Kate Lieber (D) said Republicans walked out because of the content of the bills. “It is no coincidence that Republicans are employing these embarrassing antics as the Senate is about to vote on bills that protect reproductive health freedom and establish common sense gun safety laws,” she said.

Minority Leader Tim Knopp (R) said Democrats broke chamber rules related to the plain wording of bills. “When the majority of bill summaries written demand a post-graduate degree to understand what the bills do, we disenfranchise Oregonians across the state and violate the law in the process,” he said. 

Measure 113 was approved in November 2022 with 68% of the vote. The citizen-initiated measure amended the Oregon Constitution to disqualify state legislators from re-election following the end of their term if they are absent from 10 legislative floor sessions without permission or excuse. The 10 absences would be deemed disorderly behavior according to the constitution. This applied to both legislative attendance during regular and special legislative sessions.

Prior to 2023, Ballotpedia tracked five noteworthy legislative walkouts in Oregon, where legislators left the state for at least a week or received significant national media attention. The legislative walkouts occurred in 2001, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Additional reading:



All candidates for Oregon House of Representatives District 53 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
October 25, 2022 at 4:33 PM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 53 —  Emerson Levy (D) and Michael Sipe (R) — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.

Eighty-eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2022. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of Oregon’s state legislature. Oregon is one of 14 states with a Democratic trifecta.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?  

Levy:               

  • “School Safety and Gun Safety: I consider school safety and gun safety as the fight of my life.”
  • “Reproductive Rights: I am the only pro-choice candidate in this race.”
  • “Homelessness: Everyone deserves to feel safe in our community.”

Sipe:   

  • “Government Overreach”
  • “The Economy & Small Business”
  • “Law and Order / Public Safety”

Click on candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



All candidates for Oregon House of Representatives District 12 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
October 25, 2022 at 4:31 PM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 12 —  Michelle Emmons (D) and Charlie Conrad (R) — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.

Eighty-eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2022. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of Oregon’s state legislature. Oregon is one of 14 states with a Democratic trifecta.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Emmons:           

  • “Strong Local Economies”
  • “Access to Healthcare, EMS, and Public Safety”
  • “Climate Resiliency and Sustainable Lands Management”           

Conrad:       

  • “People come before politics – the government is there to enforce the rule of law, provide public goods, and maintain equal opportunities for everyone.”
  • “Taxes need to be spent wisely and which provide a positive return on investment for the tax payers.”
  • “The focus should be developing and providing opportunities for the working class – they are the backbone of our economy.”

Click on candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



All candidates for Oregon House of Representatives District 49 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
October 25, 2022 at 4:29 PM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 49 —  incumbent Zach Hudson (D) and Randy Lauer (R) — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.

Eighty-eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2022. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of Oregon’s state legislature. Oregon is one of 14 states with a Democratic trifecta.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?  

Hudson:       

  • “Support public safety and reduce unauthorized camping by getting resources to East County and better coordinating resources between the state, county and cities.”
  • “Support education, including increased mental health supports for students and expanded vocational pathways.”
  • “Stand up for working families by increasing access to affordable housing, medical care and childcare.”

Lauer:               

  • “Homelessness Epidemic. The problems of Portland are filtering East into neighborhoods and workplaces at a drastic rate.”
  • “The Need For Public Safety. The Portland-Metro area is making national headlines for the increasing crime rates with no resolution in sight.”
  • “A Logical & Rational End to the Pandemic Response. The regulations and mandates from Governor Brown and the staff at the Oregon Health Authority, have gone on long enough.”

Click on candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



All candidates for Oregon House of Representatives District 48 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
October 25, 2022 at 4:26 PM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon House of Representatives District 48 —  Hoa Nguyen (D) and John Masterman (R) — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.

Eighty-eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2022. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of Oregon’s state legislature. Oregon is one of 14 states with a Democratic trifecta.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?            

Nguyen:           
“As your Representative, I will work for all families to have the opportunity to thrive. My priorities include: Education – I will fight to fund our schools, increase access to childcare, and invest in robust workforce programs. Housing – I will advocate for equitable affordable housing solutions that match our district’s unique make-up of urban and rural communities. Economic Development – North Clackamas and East Portland are among the fastest growing areas of Oregon.”

Masterman:       
“Don’t mess with our kids. A basic education should cover the things needed to enter the adult world, such as reading, writing, basic math, civics, finances, and history. Exposing children to pornographic material in the name of sharing incredibly age-inappropriate material is not acceptable. A person cannot enter a legally binding agreement until turning 18, so why are public schools pushing to teach five year olds about sexuality?”

Click on candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



All candidates for Oregon House of Representatives District 24 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
October 14, 2022 at 10:17 AM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon House of Representative District 24 — Victoria Ernst (D) and Lucetta Elmer (R) — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office. 

Eighty-eight of the country’s 99 state legislative chambers will hold regularly scheduled elections in 2022. The Democratic Party controls both chambers of Oregon’s state legislature. Oregon is one of 14 states with a Democratic trifecta.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?            

Ernst:       

“The environment; agriculture; affordable housing and homelessness; access to healthcare, mental healthcare, and substance abuse care; access to justice, including both the civil and criminal legal systems; supporting strong public education; ensuring our economy works for all of us; and protecting democracy and human rights.”

Elmer:       

“Advocating for Small Businesses When COVID-19 hit, unnecessary shutdowns and mandates destroyed our neighborhood stores and restaurants while helping the big chain stores remain open. Lucetta knows the impact that mandates and bad policies have had on our local District 24 businesses.”

Click on the candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



Jamie McLeod-Skinner and Lori Chavez-DeRemer are running for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District

By Juan Garcia de Paredes
In 2022 elections
October 10, 2022 at 11:40 AM

Jamie McLeod-Skinner and Lori Chavez-DeRemer are running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District. Incumbent Kurt Schrader (D), who was first elected in 2008, ran for re-election. He lost to McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

FiveThirtyEight’s Geoffrey Skelley and Ryan Best said, “[Democratic primary voters] ousted longtime centrist Rep. Kurt Schrader and backed progressive Jamie McLeod-Skinner in this D+3 seat, which has potentially boosted the chances of Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer.”

The Oregonian’s Grant Stringer called the race “one of a pair that could be the closest of their kind in Oregon in a generation.”

McLeod-Skinner is an attorney and regional emergency manager. In her responses to Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey, McLeod-Skinner said she is “committed to lowering the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs, helping families in this difficult economy, and implementing proven solutions to tackle crime.” McLeod-Skinner has criticized Chavez-DeRemer’s position on abortion. “My opponent would ban access to abortion before a woman know she’s pregnant. My opponent is trying to take away our reproductive rights; I will defend them,” McLeod-Skinner said.

Chavez-DeRemer, a businesswoman and the former mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, has focused on economic issues and law enforcement. Chavez-DeRemer said, “I will keep our taxes low, fully fund our police, and expand educational opportunities for our children.” On law enforcement, DeRemer said McLeod-Skinner would reduce funding for police departments. “My opponent wants to fully defund the police. She has marched in the defund the police movements three times,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

Oregon’s 5th district was redrawn after the 2020 census. The redrawn district stretches from southeast Portland to Bend and includes parts of Clackamas, Deschutes, Linn, Marion, and Multnomah counties. According to The Cook Political Report and FiveThirtyEight, the partisan composition of the district did not change significantly after redistricting.

In the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden (D) received 53.6% of the 5th District’s vote to former President Donald Trump’s (R) 43.9%. According to data from Daily Kos, the redrawn 5th District voted for Biden 53.2% to 44.4%.

As of June 2022, 33% of registered voters in the redrawn district were non-affiliated, 33% were Democrats, 28% were Republicans, and 7% were registered with a third party.

The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 House districts are up for election. As of September 30, 2022, Democrats held a 220-212 majority in the U.S. House with three vacancies. 



Measures to repeal constitutional language on slavery and indentured servitude as criminal punishments are on the ballot in five states this November

By Nicole Fisher
In 2022 elections
October 10, 2022 at 11:22 AM

On November 8, 2022, voters in five states—Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont—will decide on amending their state constitutions to repeal language regarding the use of slavery or indentured servitude as punishment for a crime, or, in the case of Vermont, for the payments of debts, damages, fines, costs.

The ballot questions are below:

  1. Alabama Recompiled Constitution Ratification Question: Ratifies an updated and recompiled state constitution, which was adopted by the legislature following voter approval of Amendment 4 in 2020. The proposed constitution repeals language that provides for involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.
  2. Louisiana Amendment 7: Removes language in the state constitution that provides for slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime and instead says that slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except that this cannot be applied to otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice.
  3. Oregon Measure 112: Repeals language providing for slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments.
  4. Tennessee Amendment 3: Repeals language providing for slavery or involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.
  5. Vermont Proposal 2: Repeals language stating that persons could be held as servants, slaves, or apprentices with the person’s consent or “for the payments of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like” and adds language saying that “slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited.”

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—which was ratified on December 6, 1865—prohibited slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as a punishment for those convicted of crimes. The text of the Thirteenth Amendment reads:

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

As of 2022, 10 state constitutions included provisions prohibiting enslavement and involuntary servitude but with an exception for criminal punishments, while nine states had constitutions that included provisions permitting involuntary servitude, but not slavery, as a criminal punishment.

The states with constitutions that include provisions regarding slavery and involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment are Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

The states with constitutions that include provisions regarding involuntary servitude, but not slavery, as criminal punishment, are Alabama, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio.

Vermont is the only state that has a constitutional provision regarding involuntary servitude to pay a debt, damage, fine, or cost.

Nebraska, Utah, and Colorado put measures on the ballot to remove language from their state constitutions regarding the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. These amendments were approved in Nebraska and Utah in 2020, and in Colorado in 2018.



Both candidates for Oregon Court of Appeals Position 3 complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey

By Ballotpedia staff
In 2022 elections
September 23, 2022 at 4:57 PM

Both of the candidates running in the November 8, 2022, general election for Oregon Court of Appeals Position 3 —incumbent Darleen Ortega and Vance Day — completed Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey. These survey responses allow voters to hear directly from candidates about what motivates them to run for office.

The Oregon Court of Appeals, established by statute in 1969, is the intermediate appellate court in Oregon. The court hears all civil and criminal appeals from the circuit courts and also has jurisdiction to review some state administrative agency actions.

Here are excerpts from candidates’ responses to the question: What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?            

Ortega:               

  • “I am experienced and highly competent. I have authored over 800 opinions and have participated in thousands of cases during my time on the Court of Appeals. That experience has not made me complacent nor institutionalized my thinking.”
  • “I am a judicial and community leader, including on issues of access to justice. I am a frequent speaker and discussion leader on addressing the gaps that exist between the goal of justice and the lived experience of people who interact with the legal system. I relentlessly make space for the voices of the unheard and lead by example in a practice of listening to those voices myself.”
  • “I approach my work with integrity and a relentless commitment to the ideal of justice for all.”

Day:               

  • “Equality: It is my firm belief that our laws should be applied to all people in all places at all times equally.”
  • “Freedom: It is my heartfelt conviction that government in a civil society under our Constitutions exists to respect and preserve our freedoms, not to erode or cancel them in favor of short-term administrative convenience or corrupt political gain.”
  • “Rule of Law: Every citizen has the right to expect that our Constitution and the laws that operate within it mean what they say and don’t mean what they don’t say in a concrete way and that these laws enacted by the People’s elected representatives prevail over the arbitrary and occasionally capricious whims of temporary elected officials.”

Click on candidates’ profile pages below to read their full responses to this and other questions.

We ask all federal, state, and local candidates with profiles on Ballotpedia to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Ask the candidates in your area to fill out the survey.

Additional reading:



Tina Kotek (D), Christine Drazan (R), and Betsy Johnson (I) lead field in Oregon gubernatorial race

By Ellen Morrissey
In 2022 elections
August 30, 2022 at 5:31 PM

Tina Kotek (D), Christine Drazan (R), Betsy Johnson (I), and R. Leon Noble (L) are running in the Oregon gubernatorial election on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Governor Kate Brown (D) is term-limited and cannot run for re-election.

Kotek, Drazan, and Johnson have led the field in fundraising and media coverage. Kotek is the former speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, Drazan is the former Oregon House minority leader, and Johnson is a former Oregon state senator. Johnson served in the state senate as a Democrat.

Kyle Kondik of Sabato’s Crystal Ball wrote, “the state is hosting an unusual 3-way race among a trio of women who are all recent members of the state legislature. […] The race sets up an unusual situation where the winner may not need to crack even 40%.”

Writing about the July 29 gubernatorial debate, Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Dirk VanderHart said the candidates, “attempted to stake out the political lanes they hope to ride to victory in November: Kotek as the accomplished progressive, Johnson as the centrist unifier, and Drazan as the change agent for a state that has […] one-party control.”

In 2018, Brown won re-election against Knute Buehler (R) 50% to 44%. President Joe Biden (D) won the 2020 presidential vote in Oregon with 57% to Donald Trump’s (R) 40%. In 2020, Oregon held three statewide executive elections for secretary of state, treasurer, and attorney general. Democratic candidates won each of these races by at least percentage 7 points.

Oregon has had a Democratic governor since 1987. Oregon’s most recent Republican governor was Victor G. Atiyeh, who served from 1979 to 1987. Since Oregon became a state in 1859, only one third-party or independent candidate has been elected governor: Julius L. Meier (I), who served from 1931 to 1935.

This is one of 36 gubernatorial elections taking place in 2022. The governor serves as a state’s top executive official and is the only executive office that is elected in all 50 states. There are currently 28 Republican governors and 22 Democratic governors.

Oregon has a Democratic trifecta. A state government trifecta refers to a situation where one party controls a state’s governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.

As of August 29, 2022, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 14 Democratic trifectas, and 13 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.