SALEM — Voters aren’t thrilled with the state of affairs in Oregon, but that doesn’t appear to be enough for Democrats to reject a longtime party leader on Tuesday, May 17.

Early returns suggest that former Speaker of the House Tina Kotek is likely to prevail against state Treasurer Tobias Read, to become the Democratic nominee for governor in November. Initial results released shortly after 8 p.m. had Kotek with 57% of the vote and Read with 31%.

Voters in Umatilla and Morrow counties, however, backed Read. He received 146 votes (36.1%) to Kotek’s 117 (29%) in Morrow County, and 1,058 (41.4%) to Kotek’s 928 (36.3%) in Umatilla County.

Although election results might not be finalized for days, Kotek has a sizeable lead over Read. Several counties were not part of the initial vote totals in the initial release of numbers, including Clackamas County, which had trouble with ballots this spring.

There’s less certainty than in past years, with a new law allowing mailed ballots to be counted up to a week past Election Day if postmarked by May 17.

Kotek’s big lead indicates her long history of championing progressive policies — and the many institutional allies she made in the process — may be enough to sway liberal primary voters amid some serious headwinds.

Polling has repeatedly shown many Oregon voters are alarmed by rising homelessness, gun violence and other societal woes, and Read attempted to run a centrist campaign that blamed Kotek for presiding over a state in decline.

Kotek appears to have successfully sold voters on her deep knowledge of Salem’s inner workings, along with her track record of passing bills that, among other things, raised the minimum wage, enacted new gun controls, regulated carbon emissions and protected abortion. If she prevails in November, Kotek will become the first openly lesbian governor elected in the nation.

— East Oregonian contributed to this report.