Ballots await sorting at the Umatilla County Elections office ahead of the ballot deadline for the May primary.

UMATILLA COUNTY — Dan Dorran of Hermiston and HollyJo Beers of Milton-Freewater emerged from a crowded field Tuesday night to advance to the November general election in the 2020 race for Umatilla County commissioner.

Dorran finished first in the primary with 34% of the vote and 5,482 total votes received, while Beers came in second with 24% of the vote and 3,935 total votes received.

The two bested a trio of candidates from Hermiston to advance, with Pat Maier collecting 13% of the vote for third, Jonathan Lopez receiving 10% for fourth, and Mark Gomolski finishing fifth with 8%.

“We’re really happy and humbled with how things went,” Dorran said of his campaign, noting he was excited to receive as significant a portion of the vote as he did despite four other candidates entered in the race.

Though confident entering Tuesday, Beers said she still felt pleasantly surprised by the result and was looking forward to the opportunity to continue her campaign into November.

“I’m very excited about it,” she said. “I’m delighted and humbled by all the people who supported me.”

Dorran’s campaign leading into the primary leaned on his extensive experience in the community serving on a variety of committees and boards, including his nearly 20 years in various roles on the Umatilla County Fair Board. While that record resonated with voters Tuesday night, Dorran felt the campaigning process as a whole was still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a shame we weren’t able to have conversations in front of and with the public,” he said. “I think that would have really had a big impact on how the voting went.”

Though it was an unorthodox first campaign due to COVID-19 for Beers, who is a self-proclaimed constitutionalist and leader of the Umatilla County Three Percenters, it also placed a greater emphasis on social media campaigning.

With a strong following built up on her Facebook page, Beers credited her social media presence for some of her success in the primary. But now that she’s separated herself and set up a showdown with Dorran in November, Beers plans to dive right into the next stage of her campaign.

“I plan to pursue a very diligent campaign against Mr. Dorran. He’s a very formidable opponent,” she said. “I was sort of winging it at times during the primary — there won’t be any winging it moving forward.”

That “diligent campaign” begins Monday, when Beers will be meeting with a steering committee she formed of five trusted friends and advisors to outline and organize her next steps.

While no stranger to public service, Dorran is also running his first official campaign and is hopeful more traditional methods will be available to him now that restrictions due to COVID-19 begin to lift locally.

“We’re really looking forward to having more opportunities for a traditional campaign moving forward,” he said.

Those traditional methods will allow for more face-to-face discussions and opportunities to meet voters, Dorran said, which will be helpful now as the race dwindles down to two and differentiating one’s platform from another becomes more critical.

Beers highlighted that these opportunities to meet with voters will also be an opportunity for her and Dorran to learn from the voters what it is that they’d like to see on their platforms. Throughout her campaign so far, Beers has touted herself as an opportunity for voters to make a change in the type of leader they elect by being a more accurate voice of the people.

“It’s not my agenda, it’s your agenda,” she said.

Both Dorran and Beers voiced some disappointment in the county’s overall voter turnout, which was reported at right around 36% of the 45,240 eligible voters. Regardless, the two will have months more of opportunity in a smaller, more concentrated campaign before voters will make their final choice between them in November.