Oregon Governor's Race: Nick Kristof Makes Campaign Official

PORTLAND, OR — Nick Kristof, a former New York Times columnist and native Oregonian, made it official Wednesday morning: He is running for governor as a Democrat looking to replace Kate Brown.

"I've never run for political office in my life," said Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize winner. "But I have spent a lifetime shining a light in the darkest corners of the globe."

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Kristof, the son of a refugee who settled in Oregon in 1952, lives on the farm in Yamhill where he grew up. He went to public schools there and found his first journalism job there when he was in high school, working at the McMinnville News-Register.

"I exist only because Oregon showed compassion for a refugee," Kristof said. "It's that Oregon — the one of hope and opportunity, the one that reveals the best in us, even when things are at their worst — that I believe in.

"We seem to be losing some of that now, but I know we can create it together. That's why I'm running for governor."

Kristof quit the Times two weeks ago. He had worked there for 37 years.

"You all know how much I love Oregon, and how much I've been seared by the suffering of old friends there," he said in a memo to his colleagues. "So I've reluctantly concluded that I should try not only to expose problems but also see if I can fix them directly."

Kristof moved back to the farm full time with his wife, Sheryl WuDunn — with whom he shared a Pulitzer Prize — back in 2019. They've turned it from what had been a farm focused on cherries and sheep to a winery and orchard.

He won't be the only Democrat seeking the seat. House Speaker Tina Kotek and State Treasurer Tobias Read have also said they want to run. On the Republican side, Stan Pulliam, the mayor of Sandy, is also running.