Oregon votes are (mostly) in.

 I see three big themes of consequence in the Oregon election results.

1. Established candidates won. They had endorsements, they raised money, they had bigger campaigns. 

2. In three hotly contested races in the Greater Portland area, the "regular, liberal" Democrat defeated the "progressive" candidate.

3. In Jackson and Josephine counties measures to change the charter failed. 

Cliff Bentz, U.S. Rep. in a largely-rural district

The "favorites" won. There were no big upsets.  Oregon's rural-district Republican U.S. Representative, Cliff Bentz, coasted to an easy win. He endorsed Trump while Nikki Haley was in the race. He voted to throw out Pennsylvania's votes for Biden in the 2020 election, even though the audited results showed Biden won by 80,000 votes. He voted along with nearly all his GOP House members for various Speakers, including Jim Jordan. That would appear to be good MAGA compliance with Trump, but the concern within Republican circles was that maybe Bentz was not red-meat MAGA enough. So he had a primary election opponent, Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe, but the concern was for naught. 

Tobias Read, the current state treasurer won the Democratic primary for secretary of state. His opponent was a widely respected state senator, but Read had better name familiarity, raised more money, and had a bigger campaign. 

Voters chose "regular" over progressive. Voters in the heart of blue Oregon --  the Greater Portland area -- saw three progressive candidates with big, well-funded campaigns. Each got substantial contributions from within the state and from out- of-state progressive PACS.  Seeking the bright blue Portland congressional seat vacated by retiring Earl Blumenauer , former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, sister of the leader of the U.S. House's Progressive caucus Pramila Jayapal, had strong national support. She lost, getting only 29% of the vote compared to the 51% given to State Representative Maxine Dexter, who communicated more moderate Democratic politics. Dexter told supporters on election night, 'In Congress, I will listen, I will work with others and we will find a path forward that gets results."

In another U.S. representative race in district that includes both Portland suburbs and the Democratic city of Bend, progressive Jamie McLeod-Skinner ran an active well-funded campaign. She had lost narrowly to a Republican in this Democratic-leaning district in 2022, a loss that drew national attention. She  lost her primary election this year almost 70%-30% to State Representative Janelle Bynum. Bynum had the support of the Democratic National Committee and the endorsement of every prominent Oregon elected official. Several of those officials told me they were endorsing Bynum because they thought McLeod-Skinner too progressive to win a general election. She had her chance two years ago and she lost, they told me, and they weren't taking a chance on her this cycle.

Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schmidt was one of several progressive DAs elected in big cities in 2020. He has been widely condemned for failing to prosecute vandalism and other crimes associated with demonstrations following the slow murder of George Floyd. As was the case in San Francisco, voters seem to want to get back to normal. The results are too close to call definitively, but Schmidt appears to be losing to challenger Nathan Vasquez.

No, to county charter changes. Voters in Jackson and Josephine counties rejected the charter change proposals. Josephine County's was an outright rejection, 70% to 30%. Jackson County's was much closer and more complicated. The proposals to make the county commissioner office nonpartisan and to increase their number from three to five both lost by similar numbers, about 54% to 46%. The measure to cut the salaries of commissioners from a current $150,000 to about half that passed easily 64% to 36%. However, a little-known provision in the salary measure stated that it would only take effect if the measure increasing the number of commissioners from three to five passed. Since it did not, then the salary-cut measure will not take effect either. This creates a complicated situation where public sentiment conflicts with the rules in effect.

I will write about that issue tomorrow.

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