Nguyen Wins Lake Oswego State House Nomination, Barely Avoids Recount

LAKE OSWEGO, OR — Daniel Nguyen won the Democratic nomination by 28 votes to be the state representative for the 38th District in the Oregon House of Representatives, the Oregon Secretary of State posted Monday.

That was the bare minimum he needed to avoid a runoff, according to state law.

Nguyen, a Lake Oswego restaurateur and member of the City Council, received 6,845 votes in the May 17 primary, compared to 6,817 votes for Neelam Gupta, a member of the Lake Oswego school board, according to the Secretary of State's office.

State law required runoffs if the candidates were separated by 0.02 percent or less. With 13,690 votes cast — 28 votes were cast for write-in candidates — that meant Nguyen and Gupta would have had to have been separated by 27 votes or less.

The district is heavily Democratic, and Nguyen is looking to succeed state Rep. Andrea Salinas, who won the Democratic nomination to represent the U.S. 6th Congressional District.

But the campaign is not over for Nguyen. He faces Republican Alistair Firmin in the general election.

The results were made official nearly one month after the May primary because of snafus with the vote counting in Clackamas County, where most of Oregon House District 38 is located.