As the party becomes more competitive, the Democratic Governors Association donated $1.25million to support the nominee for the Oregon gubernatorial election.
The donation last week raised the total amount that the organization gave to Tina Kotek, former state Rep., to $3.1million. The Cook Political Report reclassified Tina Kotek’s race from “lean Democrat” to “toss up” shortly after the donation. This was due to her popularity, which could lead to a split in the vote.
The race has seen Republicans spend millions of dollars. Christine Drazan, the GOP candidate for the nomination, stated that her campaign received $1million from the Republican Governors Association in the first month of this year. This amounts to $2.6million over the course the campaign.
According to polling data, Betsy Johnson, an independent candidate, has been a serious contender. She pulled nearly 25% of the vote. Although her latest fundraising numbers are not yet available, they indicate that she is on par with Drazan and Kotek in terms of money raised since January 2021.
Although third-party and independent candidates usually only get a small percentage of the vote in general, Johnson has made a name for itself among voters over her long career as a centrist Democrat at the statehouse. The outgoing Democratic Governor. Kate Brown is the unpopular governor of the country. This could lead to voters turning against Republicans or independents.
Drazan, a centrist Republican, was previously the minority leader of the Oregon House Republicans against Kotek. Kotek was House speaker at that time. Since 1987, Oregon has not had a Republican governor.
