OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022
Three-way race spawns tsunami of donations
Candidates have raised
over $17.1 million since
the beginning of 2021
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A $100,000 check
from a longtime conservative
Oregon political donor to Repub-
lican Christine Drazan.
One for $100,000 to Betsy
Johnson’s insurgent campaign
from a construction industry
group.
Two liberal political action
campaigns top off at the same
level in their total giving to Dem-
ocrat Tina Kotek.
The top candidates for gov-
ernor continue to pile up stacks of
cash in the race to the top of Ore-
gon’s political pyramid.
The trio has raised over $17.1
million since January 2021, on
pace to blow past the 2018 record
of $40 million when Democratic
Gov. Kate Brown beat Republican
former Rep. Knute Buehler.
The primaries are two months
past and the general election
more than three months away.
The latest reports fi led with the
Oregon Secretary of State show a
fl uid fi nancial situation.
Kotek and Drazan are coming
off a May primary that saw the
pair emerge from a combined
roster of 34 candidates lured by
the fi rst open governor’s race
since 2010.
Dollar fi gures can be
deceiving. Kotek reports
$500,000 in the bank — 10% of
what Johnson has tucked away.
Drazan has over $300,000
from the Republican Governors
Association. Kotek has $53,000
from the Democratic governors.
Kotek’s spokesperson Katie
Wertheimer says
it’s a wrinkle of
post-primary fi nan-
cial report timing,
not a measure of
long-term strength.
Little of the recent
money shows the
Drazan
reaction to the
Supreme Court
ruling in late June
gutting Roe v. Wade
abortion rights in
place since 1973.
“We’ve also seen
Johnson
a huge uptick in
interest in volun-
teering to help Tina
win in November,”
Wertheimer said.
“We’re confi dent
that we will have
the resources to
Kotek
win.”
Drazan won
the Republican primary with
23% of the vote and now has
to rally the splintered factions
behind her campaign as GOP
standard-bearer. The six-fi gure
national GOP commitment along
with sizeable donations from
business interests and activist
donors is ramping up into late
GOVERNOR CANDIDATES
CAMPAIGN FINANCES
Contributions and expenditures since
Jan. 1, 2021. Source: Oregon Secretary of
State, as of July 21, 2022. All amounts are
rounded down to the nearest dollar.
Christine Drazan, Republican
Raised: $4,379,148
Spent: $3,138,440
Cash on hand: $1,320,202
Betsy Johnson, unaffi liated
Raised: $9,547,057
Spent: $5,455,414
Cash on hand: $4,621,350
Tina Kotek, Democrat
Raised: $3,271,424
Spent: $2,906,873
Cash on hand: $454,195
Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter, File
matter the outcome.
There’s no incumbent for the
fi rst time in a decade.
Kotek is looking to run the
Democratic consecutive win
streak in elections for governor to
an even dozen. She’d be the fi rst
openly lesbian governor in United
States history.
Drazan would be the fi rst
Republican governor since Vic
Atiyeh was reelected in 1982,
before half of Oregon residents
were even born. She’d be the fi rst
Republican woman to hold the
offi ce.
Johnson is making the longest
shot, a bid to be the second gov-
ernor since statehood in 1859 that
wasn’t backed by a major political
party. Julius Meier served one
term after winning an indepen-
dent bid in 1930 amid the Great
Depression.
The top candidates for Oregon governor continue to pile up stacks of cash in the
race to the top of Oregon’s political pyramid.
summer.
“No statewide GOP candidate
in recent history has enjoyed the
fundraising success Christine has
had,” said John Burke, Drazan’s
communications director. “We’re
excited to have so many new sup-
porters on board since the pri-
mary and we’re ready to deliver a
historic victory this November.”
On the fl ip side, Johnson’s $9.5
million in contributions is $1 mil-
lion more than Kotek and Drazan
combined.
It’s a formidable amount. But
the former Democratic state sen-
ator from Columbia County still
has to get on the November ballot
and build a statewide campaign
apparatus from scratch.
“We are in the home stretch of
signature gathering and will far
surpass the approximately 25,000
valid signatures we need to
secure by Aug. 16 to put Betsy’s
name on the November ballot,”
said Jennifer Sitton, Johnson’s
spokesperson.
While her current money totals
may dwarf her competitors, it’s
a head start to build a bulwark
against the likely fl ood of national
party money that will fl ow into
the race after Labor Day.
“We are proud of our fund-
raising, but know the party insti-
tutions are preparing to back up
the Brinks trucks to spend it all
attacking Betsy,” Sitton said.
The 2022 race is already
unique in Oregon political history
and will mark major shifts no
Brown orders state of emergency over heat wave
Union, Wallowa
counties included in
emergency order
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown issued a state of
emergency Tuesday, July
26, for most of Oregon “due
to extreme high tempera-
tures causing a threat to
life, health
and infra-
structure.”
Tempera-
tures that
could range
above 100
Brown
degrees for
the next six
days have been forecast
across the state.
The order came just over
one year from the highest
temperatures during the
2021 “heat dome” that set
records across the state,
with several areas recording
highs of up to 117 degrees.
Multnomah County
recorded 69 heat deaths
over the three-day peak.
In August 2021, the
Oregon Medical Examiner’s
Offi ce released a report that
96 people had died from
hyperthermia — excessive
heat exposure — during the
late June heat dome event.
The order issued by
Brown covers 25 coun-
ties through Sunday, July
31: Columbia, Clackamas,
Crook, Curry, Deschutes,
Douglas, Gilliam, Grant,
Hood River, Jackson, Jef-
ferson, Josephine, Klamath,
Marion, Morrow, Mult-
nomah, Polk, Sherman,
Umatilla, Union, Wal-
lowa, Wasco, Washington,
Wheeler and Yamhill
counties.
Brown ordered the
Oregon Department of
Emergency Management to
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tive measures to local gov-
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“I encourage everyone
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taking advantage of cooling
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