{"id":1647452,"date":"2022-09-19T16:38:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-19T20:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647452"},"modified":"2022-09-19T16:38:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T20:38:29","slug":"democrats-pour-over-1m-into-oregon-governors-race-as-blue-state-becomes-toss-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-pour-over-1m-into-oregon-governors-race-as-blue-state-becomes-toss-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Pour Over $1M Into Oregon Governor\u2019s Race As Blue State Becomes Toss-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-pour-over-1m-into-oregon-governors-race-as-blue-state-becomes-toss-up%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1647452&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/\">Elections<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Democrat Tina Kotek is locked in tight race with Republican, independent challengers<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tTina Kotek  \/  Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/josh-christenson\/\" title=\"Posts by Josh Christenson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Josh Christenson<\/a> \u2022 September 19, 2022 4:30 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Democratic Governors Association poured over a million dollars into the Oregon governor\u2019s race last week, its largest contribution yet in the state.<\/p>\n<p>The Association on Thursday contributed $1.25 million to Democratic candidate Tina Kotek, the <em>Willamette Week<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/state\/2022\/09\/18\/national-democrats-write-biggest-check-so-far-in-oregon-governors-race-to-tina-kotek\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>, bringing the group\u2019s total contributions to more than $3 million for Kotek this year. The news comes as the Cook Political Report on Friday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cookpolitical.com\/analysis\/governors\/oregon-governor\/oregon-governor-moves-toss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shifted<\/a> its Oregon gubernatorial race prediction from &#8220;Leans Democrat&#8221; to &#8220;Toss-Up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kotek faces an uphill battle as the left-wing candidate in Oregon, where voters are concerned about rising violent crime. Last year, Portland had the most homicides in its history. When she served as state House speaker, Kotek <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wweek.com\/news\/2020\/07\/01\/oregon-house-speaker-tina-kotek-admonishes-mayor-wheeler-in-letter-about-portland-police\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sided with rioters<\/a> who damaged local businesses and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/crime\/2020\/07\/police-union-president-responds-to-oregon-house-speaker-tina-kotek-asking-why-she-didnt-decry-vandalism-to-police-precincts-local-businesses.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flung rocks, bottles, and fireworks<\/a> at police during Portland\u2019s summer 2020 protests.<\/p>\n<p>Kotek\u2019s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Kotek is seeking to distance herself from her opponents, independent candidate Betsy Johnson and Republican Christine Drazan, as they are locked in a three-way race. The Democratic Governors Association has <a href=\"https:\/\/democraticgovernors.org\/updates\/after-both-nra-a-rated-betsy-johnson-and-christine-drazan-balk-on-debating-gun-violence-tina-kotek-holds-forum-to-talk-common-sense-gun-control-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drawn attention<\/a> to both Johnson\u2019s and Drazan\u2019s &#8220;A&#8221; rating from the NRA, as well as Johnson\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/democraticgovernors.org\/updates\/rolling-stone-oregon-gov-candidate-betsy-johnson-is-a-machine-gun-toting-darling-of-gop-megadonors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">courting<\/a> of GOP megadonors.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Sitton told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> that the association\u2019s donations to Kotek show &#8220;Democrats are going to back up the Brinks trucks to Oregon\u2014a state they can\u2019t afford to lose but can\u2019t figure out how to win.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for Drazan\u2019s campaign echoed those remarks.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;National Democrats are hitting the panic button because they have a weak candidate and failed leader as their nominee,&#8221; John Burke told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;Tina Kotek was [Governor] Kate Brown&#8217;s top enabler and Oregonians know she&#8217;s responsible for massive homelessness, rising violent crime, and a continuing affordability crisis.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A 2021 Morning Consult poll <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/politics\/2022\/05\/new-poll-finds-kate-brown-is-nations-least-popular-governor.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">found<\/a> Oregon\u2019s Kate Brown had the lowest approval rating of any governor. Brown <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tinafororegon.com\/endorsements\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has endorsed<\/a> Kotek\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson is pitching herself as a moderate, but served as a Democrat alongside Kotek in the Oregon legislature since the mid-2000s. She voted with Kotek on progressive bills to decriminalize drugs and reduce incarceration, the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/oregons-independent-gubernatorial-candidate-swears-shes-a-centrist-her-voting-record-says-otherwise\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic Governors Association has come under fire this year for helping Trump-favored candidates win GOP primaries. In June, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D.) and the group <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/dems-go-all-in-to-defeat-black-veteran-in-gop-gubernatorial-primary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spent<\/a> $32 million to help Illinois state senator Darren Bailey beat a moderate black Republican for the gubernatorial nomination.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elections Democrat Tina Kotek is locked in tight race with Republican, independent challengers  Tina Kotek \/ Getty Images  Josh Christenson \u2022 September 19, 2022 4:30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}