Oregon
D held
Not calledDem +0.5closes 11:00 PM ET
0% in · Polls just closed
Lean D
Who's running
Tina KotekDIncumbent
0% inTina Kotek has been governor since 2023. She beat Christine Drazan by about 3.5 points in 2022 in a three-way race. She won the May 19 primary with 84 percent. Polls show many voters are unhappy with her: only 38 percent viewed her favorably in an OPB poll, and more than 20 percent of her own voters do not like her.
What they say they'll do
- Says Drazan would defer to the Trump administration on immigration, abortion, and mail voting.
- Points to housing bills Drazan voted against.
- Opposes a sales tax.
- Supports a pause on new data centers.
Christine DrazanR
0% inChristine Drazan led Republicans in the Oregon House as minority leader from 2019 to 2021. She was the Republican nominee for governor in 2022 and lost narrowly. She is now a state senator. She won the May 19 primary with about 41 percent over Ed Diehl and Chris Dudley. Trump has not endorsed her.
What they say they'll do
- Overhaul the state's land-use system.
- Says spending went up under Kotek without results on homelessness, housing, or schools.
- Says rural Oregonians cannot afford Kotek's agenda, pointing to the gas tax fight.
- Opposes a sales tax and supports a data center pause.
The tea ☕
- A California carpenters union wrote a record $10 million check on September 16 to an Oregon PAC that had already given $500,000 to Kotek. Nobody involved would say where the money is going.
- The Republican Governors Association gave Drazan $1 million on October 8, her biggest single donation. Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who gave to her in 2022, has not backed her this time.
- The polls flipped in October. Three polls through September had Drazan ahead by 1 to 4 points. Early October polls showed Kotek ahead by 2 to 4. The same thing happened in 2022, when Drazan led most of October and then lost.
- Kotek's campaign calls Drazan an "out-of-touch, MAGA extremist." Drazan casts Kotek as a failed governor and a candidate even Democrats do not like.
- Kotek had $8.3 million on hand in late September, more than eight times Drazan's $965,000.
Sources
- https://www.multistate.us/elections/governor-race/oregon-2026
- https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/08/new-polls-kotek-may-lead/
- https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2026/09/29/10-million-mystery-check-hangs-over-governors-race/
- https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/08/drazan-donation-rga/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Oregon_gubernatorial_election
- https://apps.npr.org/primary-election-results-2026/governors.html