Christine Drazan, the Republican running for governor of Oregon, is now leading in multiple polls. This seems to be the race that no one saw coming.
Just two weeks ago, the Cook Political Report changed this race from leans Dem to toss up, and now Drazan is in the lead.
Many conservatives are looking at this race cautiously, which is smart, but seeing a Republican doing this well in Oregon is exciting.
From Emerson College Polling:
Oregon 2022: Republican Christine Drazan with Two-Point Lead Over Democrat Tina Kotek for Governorship; Sen. Wyden Holds 19-Point Lead in Re-election BidSpencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling, said: “A plurality of Independent voters, 34% support Drazan, 29% support Johnson, and 18% support Kotek. Among Republicans, 80% support Drazan, and 9% support Johnson, while 71% of Oregon Democrats plan to vote for Kotek, 17% express support for Johnson.Forty-two percent of Oregon voters have a favorable view of Republican candidate Christine Drazan, while 41% have an unfavorable view of her. Thirty-eight percent have a favorable view of Democratic candidate Tina Kotek, while half of voters (50%) have an unfavorable view. Thirty-six percent have a favorable view of independent candidate Betsy Johnson, while 49% have an unfavorable view of Johnson…The economy is the most important issue in determining the vote for 30% of Oregon voters, followed by threats to democracy (21%), crime (12%), and abortion acces (12%).“Among those who say the economy is their top issue, 52% plan to vote for Drazan and 21% for Johnson. A majority of those who say ‘threats to democracy’ is their top issue when voting break for Kotek with 59% support.”
Drazan recently sat for an interview with KGW News, and homelessness was one of the main topics:
Best: On your campaign website, you say you’re aiming to make homelessness rare and temporary while some of your competitors are aiming to get rid of it altogether. Why is it that homelessness won’t be going away under your leadership?Drazan: Yeah, the approach to homelessness, I think, needs to be an approach that’s long term. There are no magic bullets to — in some cases — the human condition, and we have programming right now within the metro area that local jurisdictions have adopted that I’m really strongly supportive of, and that program right now is called Built for Zero, and the concept behind this is that they are really able to better understand who’s on their streets and better understand what services and supports they need to try and transition from being houseless to being fully stabilized and be able to contribute to their own lives in their best future again.Best: How will you not only address this crisis but also the symptoms of this crisis like addiction, trash, crime…Drazan: A lot of those challenges are in fact in the hands of local communities to ensure that their local police force is fully funded. I will support fully funding police at all levels of government.Drazan said she will also work to repeal Measure 110, which decriminalized possession of certain hard drugs.Drazan: Legalizing Measure 110 was a mistake for Oregonians from my perspective, now that we’ve seen it on the ground.Best: There is a lack of addiction treatment facilities in Portland. What will you do to increase those facilities and those services?Drazan: Right now, we have the ability to work alongside our non-profit partners to make sure they have the support they need to continue to expand services… But when it comes to addiction treatments in supports, we have access not just in Portland but across the entire state.
You can watch the interview below:
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