Despite being a relatively small state without any large media markets, Oregon legislative races were the fourth-costliest in the nation in 2014, behind just California, Texas and Illinois at $127,000 per member.
Because the Oregon legislature is so driven by campaign finance donations, the financial reportings are an especially good way to determine who’s for real, and a look at just one well-financed and influential organization -- the Oregon Nurses Association -- provides a serious look at 10 candidates who may be walking the halls of the Capitol next year.
The Oregon Nurses Association political action committee has spread money far and wide on new and aspiring talent to the Legislature, including Teresa Alonso Leon, Janelle Bynum, Tawna Sanchez, Julie Fahey, Janeen Sollman, Diego Hernandez, Karin Power, Pam Marsh, Sheri Malstrom, Mark Meek and Jim Thompson.
Malstrom, a public health nurse who has worked for Multnomah County, has received significant funding --$11,000 -- from the ONA, including totals from before the primary. Malstrom is seen as a shoo-in to replace the Democratic Treasurer candidate, Beaverton Rep. Tobias Reed, as the ONA looks to follow its 2014 success in helping elect another one of their own, Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland.
The other new names have received between $1,000 and $3,500.
The new crop of legislative candidates represents an opportunity for Democrats to expand -- or at least maintain -- diversity in their ranks. All of the three non-white Democrats in the House are leaving office, with Rep. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, the chamber’s only black representative, running for a Senate seat; and the chamber’s two Hispanic Democrats, Rep. Jessica Vega Pederson of Portland and Rep. Joe Gallegos of Hillsboro also exiting -- Vega Pederson having won a seat on the Multnomah County Commission.
Hernandez, a Reynolds School District board member is a heavy favorite to replace Vega Pederson, while Frederick’s successor in heavily Democratic North Portland will likely be Sanchez, an American Indian woman and director of the Native American Youth & Family Council, who defeated another woman of color, Roberta Philip-Robbins, in a closely fought primary.
Alonso Leon, a Woodburn city councilor, could provide a new Hispanic voice in the race to succeed Rep. Betty Komp, but she must first fend off Marion County Commissioner Patti Milne, who ran a relatively close 2014 race with Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem.
Bynum, an African-American woman, is running to replace outgoing Rep. Shemia Fagan, a Democrat who served outer East Portland, Happy Valley, Damascus and unincorporated Clackamas County for two terms. She faces Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer in what could be one of the most closely contested races in November. Bynum has raised $81,000, but Chavez-DeRemer has outraised her with $133,000 as the Republicans also try for a more diverse caucus.
Chavez-DeRemer is married to Dr. Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist, with whom she helped found the Anesthesia Associates Northwest in Milwaukie. She has received $10,000 apiece from the Oregon Realtors PAC and Associated Oregon Industries.
The Democrats have nominated Sollman, a Hillsboro School Board member, to replace Gallegos, who’s also retiring from public office after just two terms. She’ll face Dan Mason, who challenged Gallegos in 2014 and lost a race for a Beaverton seat in 2012. Mason has received $55,000 from fellow Republicans and a collection of local business interests. In earlier races, he received donations from the Regence Health Insurance political action committee, but has yet to report anything from them this cycle.
Fahey, the state party treasurer, is the Democrats’ pick to replace Rep. Val Hoyle in west Eugene and Junction City. The seat has been in Democratic hands for a decade after switching back and forth between the parties in the ‘00s. Republicans and their allies are spending more heavily on this race -- with $115,000 for Kathy Lamberg, who opposed Hoyle in 2014. Fahey has raised $195,000 to counter her, which includes $5,500 from four physician groups tied to the coordinated care organizations, such as the Coalition for a Healthy Oregon.
Fahey also has the support of the Oregon Health Care Association, with $1,000.
Power, a Milwaukie city councilor, is the likely replacement for Rep. Kathleen Taylor, who is moving to the Senate after just one House term. Power adds a different kind of diversity -- at 33, she’ll be one of the youngest legislators, and the third LGBT member.
Marsh is the recruit to represent largely Democratic Ashland at the southern end of I-5. A city councilor, she’s the heavy favorite to replace Rep. Peter Buckley, the House chairman of the Committee on Ways & Means.
Meek, the pick to replace Rep. Brent Barton, D-Oregon City, will have a tough Republican challenger in Oregon City School Board member Evon Tekorius. Meek has outraised Tekorius $133,000 to $54,000.
The nurses’ last pick, former Rep. Jim Thompson of Dallas, represents a different tack -- Thompson is running on the third-party Independent platform, hoping to win back his old seat from Rep. Mike Nearman, who crushed Thompson in the 2014 primary among increasingly conservative Republican voters, who disliked Thompson’s support of gay rights and healthcare reform.
Nearman did less well in the general election against Democratic and Libertarian candidates, and Thompson is hoping the overall constituency of the district will support his Independent candidacy even if a majority of his former fellow Republicans do not.
In the Senate, the Democrats have named longtime Medford attorney Tonia Moro to run in the special election for the seat of the late Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, who died Aug. 4. A closely divided district for Bates, the Democrats will have their work cut out for them to hold the open seat. Republicans have not yet nominated their pick, but have until next Tuesday.
Bates was memorialized Saturday at Southern Oregon University with eulogies from Buckley and former Gov. John Kitzhaber, with whom he helped design the Oregon Health Plan.
