NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | June 3, 2016 | PAGE 5
...Organized labor’s 2016 Oregon primary election scorecard
From Page 1
will face each other in a Novem-
ber runoff.
time votes were counted, he was
the only Republican candidate
still standing. Trump has fre-
quently criticized NAFTA and
the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
but the billionaire also has fre-
quently taken positions at odds
with organized labor, both polit-
ically and as an employer.
Union members who are fans of
the one-time host of The Ap-
prentice will want to look closer
at that record in the months
leading up to the November
election.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY
CONGRESS
Garnering 73 percent of the
vote, four-term incumbent De-
mocrat Kurt Schrader easily
brushed off a primary challenge
from former state rep Dave
McTeague. Labor unions have
been unhappy with Schrader for
several recent votes in Con-
gress, including support for
“fast track” legislation that
could speed passage of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. In the
November general election.
Schrader will face off against
Republican attorney Colm
Willis, a former political direc-
tor for Oregon Right to Life. All
other incumbents won by even
larger margins against little-
known primary challengers:
U.S. Senate Democrat Ron
Wyden, and House Democrats
Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blume-
nauer, and Peter DeFazio, and
House Republican Greg
Walden.
Statewide elections
GOVERNOR
With 84 percent support from
Democrats, incumbent governor
Kate Brown easily won primary
challenges against lesser-known
challengers. She’ll face Salem
Republican Bud Pierce, a cancer
doctor, in November.
SECRETARY OF STATE
Labor Commissioner Brad
Avakian won the Democratic
primary, with 39 percent to 24
percent for former State Rep Val
Hoyle and 26 percent for State
Sen. Richard Devlin. All three
Democrats had support from
some quarters in labor, but
Avakian had broader labor sup-
port than the others. And more
than the others, he also took
sides on some issues important
to labor, including hostility to
NAFTA-style trade deals and
support for a pending ballot
measure to raise taxes on big
It was a low-key election night party at Hillary Clinton’s campaign Portland HQ. If the former secretary of state came
off a bit stiff and flat, that’s because a cardboard cutout was her only Oregon appearance save for a $2,400-a-plate
fundraiser last August. Behind her, her supporters watch U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders make a televised announcement
of his 56-44 percent Oregon primary win.
corporations. Avakian will face
Republican Dennis Richardson
in November. Richardson, who
served six terms in the Oregon
House, ran for governor in
2014.
TREASURER
State Rep. Tobias Reed, unop-
posed in the Democratic pri-
mary, will face Republican Jeff
Gudman in the fall.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Incumbent Democrat Ellen
Rosenblum, unopposed in the
Democratic primary, will run
against veterans’ rights attorney
Daniel Zene Crowe, who was
unopposed in the Republican
primary.
State legislative elections
Union political organization can
really make a difference in state
legislative races, which are often
decided on the basis of a few
hundred votes. This year saw a
bumper crop of union members
running for legislative office,
most of them trained and sup-
ported by the union-funded Ore-
gon Labor Candidates School.
But the biggest primary disap-
pointment for labor may have
come several days after election
night. Roberta Phillip-Robbins,
a member of AFSCME Local
88, quit her job as a youth and
gang violence prevention spe-
cialist at Multnomah County in
order to run for House District
43, because her program is fed-
erally funded and federal rules
prohibit campaigning. And labor
organizations including AF-
SCME, Service Employees In-
ternational Union (SEIU), Ore-
gon Education Association
(OEA), United Food and Com-
mercial Workers Local 555, and
the Oregon AFL-CIO made her
race a priority. She was slightly
ahead on election night, but in
the end her opponent, Tawna
Sanchez, won by just 105 votes.
Sanchez, who received a dual
endorsement from the Oregon
State Building Trades Council,
succeeds labor stalwart (and AF-
TRA member) Lew Frederick,
who’s running for State Senate.
Ray Lister, an electrician and
union rep for IBEW Local 48,
won with 77 percent of the vote
in the Democratic primary for
House District 26 (Wilsonville).
In November he’ll face Repub-
lican real estate lawyer Richard
Vial for the seat formerly held
by Republican John Davis.
Teresa Alonso Leon, an SEIU
member, ran unopposed for
House District 22, but she’ll
have to beat Republican former
Marion County commissioner
Patty Milne in order to succeed
Democrat Betty Komp.
Sheri Malstrom, a member of
Oregon Nurses Association,
won with 88 percent in Demo-
cratic primary for House District
27 (Beaverton). No Republican
filed for the office, so she’ll be
headed to Salem in January, suc-
ceeding Tobias Read, who’s run-
ning for state treasurer.
Mark Reynolds, a member of
OEA, won with 75 percent in
the Democratic primary for
House District 52 (Hood River).
He’ll go on to challenge Repub-
lican incumbent Mark Johnson,
one of the most anti-labor mem-
bers of the Oregon Legislature,
in November.
Tom Kane, a member of Port-
land Association of Teachers,
was unopposed in the Demo-
cratic primary, and will chal-
lenge incumbent Republican Vic
Gilliam for House District 18
(Silverton).
Metro elections
Incumbent Metro Councilors
Sam Chase, Bob Stacey and
Craig Dirksen won re-election.
Chase and Stacey were en-
dorsed by the Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council (NOLC),
and Dirksen was backed by the
Columbia Pacific Building
Trades Council (CPBCTC).
County elections
MULTNOMAH COUNTY
State rep and labor ally Jessica
Vega Pederson ran unopposed
to succeed Judy Shiprack for
County Commission, District 3.
And Amanda Schroeder, Veter-
ans Administration employee
and president of the American
Federation of Government Em-
ployees, had a surprisingly ro-
bust second place finish against
Gresham City Councilor Lori
Stegmann in the race to replace
term-limited Diane McKeel in
District 4. Stegmann, a Repub-
lican and former leader of the
Gresham Chamber of Com-
merce, got 46 percent of the
vote after raising $154,000 and
garnering endorsements from
Gresham Professional Fire
Fighters Local 1062, the
Fairview Police Officers Asso-
ciation, and Multnomah County
Chair Deb Kafoury. Schroeder,
a first-time candidate, got 39
percent after raising just
$32,000 and campaigning after
work and on weekends. The two
Incumbent Position 3 Commis-
sioner Martha Schrader was en-
dorsed by NOLC and eight
other labor organizations, and
won outright with 53 percent.
The Labor Council didn’t make
endorsements in other county
races, other than to urge voters
not to support incumbent chair
John Ludlow or Position 4 com-
missioner Tootie Smith, two
noted union foes. But voters
haven’t seen the last of them.
Ludlow placed second, and will
face off against County Com-
missioner Jim Bernard in a No-
vember runoff. And Smith will
face retired probation officer
Ken Humberston in a runoff.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Incumbent commissioners Dick
Schouten and Roy Rogers won
re-election. NOLC endorsed
Schouten, who ran unopposed,
and Rogers, who was endorsed
by the building trades, won with
52 percent of the vote to 24 per-
cent for Glendora Claybrooks.
COLUMBIA COUNTY
Incumbent Position 1 Commis-
sioner Margaret Magruder, en-
dorsed by NOLC, placed first,
but faces a runoff against Wayne
Mayo. Position 3 Commissioner
Tony Hyde, a 20-year incum-
bent, had NOLC’s endorsement,
but lost to Alex Tardif, an oppo-
nent of fossil fuels projects, by
51-48 percent.
HOOD RIVER COUNTY
Voters approved Measure 14-55
by 69 percent, prohibiting bot-
tled water production and trans-
port in the county. Swiss multi-
national Nestlé has been trying
for seven years to get approval
to draw water from a state-
owned spring near Cascade
Locks in the Columbia Gorge.
Oregon AFSCME opposed the
giveaway of public water, and
contributed $1,000 to the ballot
measure campaign.
Municipal elections
CITY OF PORTLAND
State Treasurer Ted Wheeler
won the mayor’s race outright
with 57 percent of the vote
against Jules Bailey and 13
other candidates. The Northwest
Oregon Labor Council and Fire
Fighters Local 43 didn’t take
sides between front-runners
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