(NewsGlobal.com)- Christine Drazan, a Republican, is maintaining her lead in the Oregon governor election.
Drazan will become the first Republican to win this election since the 1980s if she prevails.
Nobody anticipated the surprise race of 2022. She’s making believers out of people who have given up the blue state. It didn’t seem plausible that she could succeed here.
According to an unbiased poll released by the Oregonian on Wednesday, 32% of voters in Oregon say they would support Republican Christine Drazan. This gives her a percentage point lead over Kotek.
If she wins, Drazan will be Oregon’s first Republican governor since Victor Atiyeh was re-elected in 1982.
The poll is released just as Democrats launch a significant effort to keep Oregon blue. Kotek has received more than $3 million in donations from the Democratic Governors Association this year, including $1.25 million in September. Since August, the race has been downgraded to a “tossup,” according to The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
The election has evolved into a referendum on the liberal state’s response to the increase in violent crime and the widespread use of drugs. The number of killings in Portland, the largest city in Oregon, reached an all-time high in 2017. According to a poll conducted in February, nearly 90% of voters believe that the city’s quality of life has declined, and 25% believe that crime is Portland’s most pressing issue.
Betsy Johnson, an independent, is polling 18 percent of the vote.
In Oregon political circles, rumors had been circulating all week that Nike co-founder Phil Knight would be rethinking his backing of Johnson because of her weak polling.
Knight’s checkbook made it official on Thursday.
Republican Christine Drazan received a $1 million donation from Oregon’s richest man, almost ensuring that Drazan will have the resources necessary to battle Democrat Tina Kotek in a close contest.
According to Trey Rosser, the campaign manager for Drazan, “Phil Knight is a trailblazing and respected leader not just in Oregon but across the globe. To have his support and the support of so many Oregonians from all throughout our state is an enormous honor.”
