Oregon Primary Voting Closed, Kotek Wins, Drazan Leads Tiernan

PORTLAND, OR — The polls are closed in Oregon and Tina Kotek will be the Democratic nominee to replace Gov. Kate Brown (D), according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, Christine Drazan leads Bob Tiernan in the primary battle to be the Republican nominee.

At 8:40 p.m., with 67 percent of the Democratic vote counted, Kotek, the former speaker of the Oregon House, had 56.1 percent compared to state treasurer Tobias Read who had 34.2 percent.

On the Republican side, Drazan, from Oregon City and the former Republican leader of the Oregon House of Representatives, was building her lead against Bon Tiernan, who was in second place with 19.4 percent compared to her 24.5 percent with 70 percent of the votes counted.

Brown, who has been in statewide office since 2009 when she became secretary of state, is term limited out and leaves a mixed legacy with some notable accomplishments being overshadowed by revolt against tough mask mandates. A poll in April found her to be the least popular governor in the United States.

There were 37 candidates on the ballot – 16 Democrats and 21 Republicans – and they have spent a lot of money trying to convince voters that they will do the best job. The top 10 Democrats and Republicans have raised about $15 million and spent around $12 million since Jan. 1, according to information filed with the Secretary of State's office.

Not included in that tally is the woman who looms over the primary votes and will be waiting for the winners in November. Betsy Johnson, the former state senator who left the Democratic Party to run as an independent, has raised more than $8 million and spent a bit less than $3 million, according to the data filed with the state.

Before she left the Democratic Party to run for governor, Johnson had been a moderate to conservative Democrats and hopes to attract voters from both parties in November.

Kotek said that, if elected, she would meet with all agency directors and have them make the case that they should stay. Kotek has also been stressing a plan that would redirect some Medicaid funds to a program to help victims of gun violence.

On the Republican side, voters are demonstrating that there is at least one area in which both sides of the aisle can agree: the majority don't know for whom they will vote.

Whoever does win will have a tough battle. Oregon is a blue state that has not elected a Republican governor since Vic Atiyeh left office in 1987.

What polls that there've been show no candidate above 21 percent, and it is possible, with so many people on the ballot, that someone could win the nomination with barely a fifth of the vote.

Maintaining a small but significant lead has been Bob Tiernan, a businessman from Lake Oswego who has been active in Republican politics and Christine Drazan from Oregon City, who stepped down as the Republican leader of the Oregon House of Representatives.