Drazan brings campaign to Baker

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Christine Drazan, who hopes to become the first Republican elected as Oregon governor in 40 years, visited the Baker County Events Center Tuesday evening, Aug. 16 for a speech to about 120 people.

In closing her 25-minute speech to the audience, a group she described as “the winning team,” Drazan emphasized the importance of voting.

“I need you guys to know this: your votes matter,” Drazan said. “Your votes are going to make a difference this year. Every single vote this year is going to make a difference. The next governor of Oregon is not going to be elected by Multnomah County.”

Multnomah County, which includes Portland, has about 560,000 registered voters out of almost 3 million registered in the state.

And more than half of those voters are registered Democrats, a big reason why Oregon has not elected a Republican to the state’s top office since Victor Atiyeh, who won his second four-year term in 1982.

That’s led people in counties like Baker, where 47% of the 12,800 registered voters are Republicans, to feel “uncomfortable” with representation, as one question from the crowd on Tuesday night put it.

That person also asked Drazan about the possibility of Eastern Oregon becoming a part of Idaho, an idea the Move Oregon’s Border group has promoted.

Drazan had said earlier in her speech that she had been working with Idaho Gov. Brad Little, also a Republican, and that she saw an “incredible” opportunity for collaboration between the states.

“We were having a conversation about what it would be like to have a partner, where we could work together on transportation, on infrastructure, on agriculture issues,” Drazan said.

But she said voters should focus on fixing issues in Oregon even if they feel disenfranchised with the state’s politics.

“I want to fix Oregon, and I want you guys to be a part of your home state,” Drazan said.

“I’m running for governor because I want to fix it. I don’t want people to leave, I want to fix it.”

Drazan told the Herald in an interview after the meet-and-greet that bridging the divide between the state’s rural and urban counties is a priority.

“We can’t have a vibrant I-5 corridor and an abused, forgotten, left behind Eastern Oregon,” Drazan said. “It’s got to be a focus.”

Despite the daunting recent electoral history, Drazan told the audience that the current political environment is favorable for Republicans.

“This year is different, because it’s a true open seat in a midterm election with an opposing party in the White House,” Drazan said. “The last time that happened was 2010.”

Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, is not eligible to run for reelection due to term limits.

Drazan served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 2019 to 2022 and was minority leader until 2021. She represented the 39th district, which includes parts of Clackamas County.

She hopes to defeat Democrat Tina Kotek, who served as the speaker of the Oregon House from 2013-2022, and independent Betsy Johnson, a longtime Democratic Oregon legislator.

“You recognize that the people in Salem — Kate Brown, Tina Kotek, Betsy Johnson — have not served your needs,” Drazan said.

A late June poll sponsored by the Republican State Leadership Committee had Drazan leading Kotek by one point, with Johnson further behind.

Drazan won May’s crowded GOP primary with 23% of the votes, defeating more than a dozen other candidates including Baker City Mayor Kerry McQuisten.

Although Drazan hopes to garner a large voter turnout in November from counties in Eastern Oregon, she will still inevitably need votes from the other side of the state as well. During her speech Tuesday in Baker City she mentioned drugs and homelessness in Portland.

Recently Drazan vowed to declare Oregon’s homelessness crisis a state of emergency should she take office, something she repeated in Baker City.

She offered an anecdote to the crowd, describing a time when she did a police ride-along in Portland and witnessed, for the first time, people taking hard drugs on the streets. She vowed to re-criminalize meth, heroin and fentanyl, a statement that drew loud applause.

In 2020 Oregon voters approved a ballot measure making possession of relatively small amounts of those and other drugs similar to a traffic infraction, rather than a crime.

A majority of Baker County voters rejected that measure.

After her opening remarks, Drazan fielded questions from the crowd, which were delivered by notecard. Questions addressed taxes, abortion, voting laws, medicare, gun laws and agriculture.

“If I’ve learned anything from traveling our state, it’s that every single part of our state is unique,” said Drazan, who grew up in Klamath County. “I want to be a part of having a conversation where you guys tell me what you want fixed and what you want me to work on for you.”

Drazan headed to John Day Tuesday night to continue her campaign trip through Eastern Oregon.