NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, May 21, 2020
STATE ELECTION RESULTS
Hass wins Democratic primary for secretary of state
By HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
SALEM — Oregon Sen.
Mark Hass narrowly won the
Democratic primary for sec-
retary of state, with Wednes-
day morning results show-
ing he edged Sen. Shemia
Fagan by 1 percentage point
in results tallied as of 6 a.m.
Wednesday.
Hass had claimed 36%
of the votes at that hour, just
edging Fagan with 35%.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner,
a natural resources consul-
tant from Terrebonne, was in
third place with 28% in the
state’s highest profile primary
race.
Hass, who is completing
his 20th year in the Legisla-
ture, said Tuesday night of
his lead, “I’m very gratified,
but it’s way too close and way
too early.” From the shuttered
Noble Rot wine bar where he
was watching results, Hass
predicted, “It’s gonna be a
long night.”
He led Fagan by 40%
to 37% early Wednesday
in Multnomah County, the
county that historically has
had the most last-minute bal-
lots left to count after Elec-
tion Day.
Fagan’s campaign could
Fagan
McLeod-Skinner
not be reached for comment
on election night.
The results reflected the
extreme competitiveness of
the race, despite Fagan jump-
ing in less than three months
ago, after former Oregon
House Majority Leader Jen-
nifer Williamson dropped out
amid questions over her use
of campaign funds. William-
son had pinned her candidacy
on being the most left-leaning
candidate and Fagan took up
that mantle.
Public employee unions
quickly lined up behind
Fagan, spurning Hass over
his votes to trim public pen-
sion costs and skipping over
McLeod-Skinner, who lacks
a state-level voting record.
The unions overwhelm-
ingly bankrolled Fagan’s
campaign, allowing her to
raise more than her two oppo-
nents combined. Hass’ top
contributor was environmen-
tal nonprofit founder Richard
Roy, who gave him $50,000,
OPB Photo/Bradley W. Parks, File
Oregon Sen. Mark Hass narrowly won the Democratic prima-
ry for secretary of state, with Wednesday morning results
showing he edged Sen. Shemia Fagan by just 1 percentage
point.
and McLeod-Skinner raised
the most of the three candi-
dates in small donations of
$100 or less: $84,000.
With no incumbent in
the race, all three candidates
faced the challenge of build-
ing name recognition with
voters. That grew more dif-
ficult when the coronavirus
pandemic hit Oregon just as
the primary shifted into high
gear in the spring and Fagan,
Hass and McLeod-Skinner
were forced to quickly adapt
their campaigns to the state’s
social distancing orders.
Hass, a former television
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Voters say yes to fire district merger
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
Winds gradually
subsiding
Partly sunny with a
cool breeze
Sun and clouds
Cloudy
Some sun with a
shower; breezy
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 42°
60° 42°
66° 45°
70° 49°
76° 45°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
66° 46°
66° 45°
72° 44°
76° 52°
OREGON FORECAST
82° 48°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
56/47
53/38
64/41
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
59/43
Lewiston
57/46
68/46
Astoria
56/46
Pullman
Yakima 67/45
58/43
61/44
Portland
Hermiston
59/46
The Dalles 66/46
Salem
Corvallis
59/42
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
51/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
60/43
54/33
50/35
Ontario
60/41
Caldwell
Burns
61°
53°
74°
48°
94° (1928) 35° (2003)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
59/43
0.20"
0.87"
0.73"
1.38"
4.17"
4.75"
WINDS (in mph)
59/40
54/28
1.10"
2.31"
0.80"
7.47"
8.68"
5.95"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 50/33
58/43
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
59/42
61/46
54°
49°
72°
48°
93° (1928) 33° (1910)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
59/42
Aberdeen
56/38
62/45
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
57/47
Today
Fri.
Boardman WSW 15-25
Pendleton
W 12-25
Medford
65/42
WSW 10-20
WSW 10-20
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
60/30
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:17 a.m.
8:27 p.m.
5:03 a.m.
7:34 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
May 22
May 29
June 5
June 12
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 102° in Maverick, Texas Low 18° in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
UMATILLA COUNTY
— The merger to create the
East Umatilla Fire & Rescue
District is complete.
According to results from
Umatilla County Elections,
voters resoundingly said yes
on Tuesday night to dissolv-
ing the East Umatilla County
Rural Fire Protection District
and the Helix Rural Fire Pro-
tection District, and the vote
for Measure 30-144 to form the
new district passed with 72%
by the end of the night.
As a result, the East Uma-
tilla and Helix fire districts will
now merge with the Athena
Volunteer Fire Department
and the East Umatilla County
Ambulance Area Health Dis-
trict under the umbrella of one
taxing district.
“We’re really pleased,” said
Dave Baty, chief of East Uma-
tilla County Rural Fire Protec-
tion. “We’re happy that we can
continue to provide service to
the people that we do.”
The four agencies have
worked together in an inter-
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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70s
80s
90s
100s
110s
warm front stationary front high low
governmental agreement since
last July and have been head-
quartered at the Weston fire
station with a board of mem-
bers from each agency.
While this means services
won’t change as a result of the
merger, residents of Helix, Ath-
ena, Weston, Adams and sur-
rounding areas will pay about
$2 per $1,000 of assessed value
for both emergency ambulance
and fire services.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote,
the East Umatilla fire and
ambulance districts were each
already funded with $1 per
$1,000 assessed value tax rate,
while Helix residents were
paying 43 cents per $1,000 of
assessed value. Athena res-
idents were covered by a
$30,000 annual donation from
the city.
The merged districts are
expected to raise an additional
$120,000 in funding for its
services.
Now, Baty and the agencies
are working through the next
administrative steps as they
prepare to officially make the
switch to one unified district.
“We won’t have bound-
Commissioner’s race heads to runoff
By ALEX CASTLE
East Oregonian
MORROW
COUNTY
— The next Morrow County
commissioner will be decided
in November.
Incumbent Jim Doherty
staved off a competitive pri-
mary challenge from Joel
Peterson on Tuesday night,
coming in first in the nonpar-
tisan race with 41.56% of the
vote compared with Peter-
son’s runner-up finish with
38.25%.
But the two will have to
face off again in a Novem-
ber runoff because neither
received more than 50% of
the vote.
“I don’t know if one ever
really relaxes,” Doherty said
of the result. “But I was really,
really thrilled.”
Though he had to keep a
close eye on the results Tues-
day night, Doherty said com-
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petitive elec-
tions
are
u lt i m at ely
w h a t ’ s
best for a
community.
“I think
Doherty
it’s a great
thing,” he
said. “For a long time, espe-
cially in these small counties
and communities, you end up
drawing from the same folks
year after year. You want
more involvement rather than
less.”
Peterson is a farmer
from Ione, who has served
as an elected member of
the Ione School Board and
spent a number of years as
an appointed member of the
Morrow County Planning
Commission. He was unable
to be reached for comment
Wednesday.
Doherty, a self-employed
cattle rancher from Board-
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ary lines anymore,” Baty said.
“We’re just one big family.”
Along with three district
merging measures, voters
approved a public transporta-
tion tax for Milton-Freewater
and a bond for the Echo Fire
District.
With just 359 total votes
reported by Umatilla County
Elections, Measure 30-140 will
impose an estimated tax rate
of $0.375 per $1,000 assessed
value and raise $62,625 per
year for the Echo Fire Dis-
trict passed at 58% of the vote.
The funds raised will pay for
a 10-year general obligation
bond to purchase firefighting
equipment and add a bay to the
existing fire station on West
Main Street in Echo.
Measure 30-141 was a five-
year tax option that has helped
pay for Milton-Freewater’s
public transportation system
since 1971 and was once again
passed by voters with 62% of
the vote. The tax is projected
to raise $60,000 at a rate of 37
cents per $1,000 of assessed
property value, which is the
same rate it was when it first
passed in 1971.
MORROW COUNTY
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
-10s
such as Planned Parenthood
and the League of Conser-
vation Voters, as reasons for
voters to pick her, and said
she was proud to receive huge
financial contributions from
unions because “these are the
very people that we’re calling
heroes.”
McLeod-Skinner, a natu-
ral resources consultant who
serves on a statewide envi-
ronmental board and local
school board, sought to dis-
tinguish herself as the Dem-
ocratic candidate who could
connect with both rural and
urban areas of the state. She
pointed to her competitive
2018 race against U.S. Rep.
Greg Walden in the sprawling
and strongly Republican 2nd
Congressional District and
promised to “represent the
entire state,” saying during a
City Club of Portland forum
in March “that’s a voice that
needs to be heard in Salem.”
Hass will go on to run
against Republican nomi-
nee, Sen. Kim Thatcher of
Keizer, in the general elec-
tion. The current secretary of
state, Republican Bev Clarno
of Redmond, was appointed
to the role after the death
of Dennis Richardson and
pledged not to run for an
elected term.
UMATILLA COUNTY
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
journalist who now works
in advertising, started out
with some name recognition
thanks to his years speaking
to voters in the Portland area
and Willamette Valley, first
as a reporter, and then as a
lawmaker for 20 years in the
House and Senate. He prom-
ised that as secretary of state,
he would create an office of
elections cybersecurity, push
to allow same-day voter reg-
istration, add climate change
impacts to audits of state
programs and advocate for
ranked choice voting.
Hass cited his record
championing “big ideas that
are now Oregon law,” such
as full-day kindergarten and
a $1 billion-a-year business
tax passed in 2019 to boost
public education. As corona-
virus wreaked havoc on the
state’s health and economy,
he touted his leadership expe-
rience during previous eco-
nomic downturns as a key
selling point.
Fagan is an employment
lawyer who served four years
in the House and two in the
Senate, where she pushed
Senate President Peter Court-
ney to allow floor votes on
liberal policy priorities even
if they lacked enough votes
to pass and helped muscle
through a statewide rent con-
trol law. She focused on con-
necting with voters based
on her background of being
raised by a single dad while
her mother struggled with
drug addiction, then going
on to graduate from Lewis &
Clark Law School.
Although Fagan didn’t lay
out a clear policy platform,
she concurred with Hass and
McLeod-Skinner on a num-
ber of issues. For example, she
agreed with Hass that Oregon
should try out ranked choice
voting. She pointed to her
endorsements from groups,
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
man, is running for reelection
after serving the last four years
on the county’s three-person
board of commissioners. Due
to the COVID-19 pandemic
restricting traditional cam-
paigning methods, Doherty
said he mostly relied on his
record and reputation from
being on the board for Tues-
day’s primary.
As those restrictions begin
to ease and he can ease back
into his preferred campaign-
ing methods of going door to
door and holding town halls,
Doherty said he’ll likely
need to reach out and gen-
erate some more fundrais-
ing for the next stage of the
campaign.
Other challengers, Joseph
Armato, an emergency dis-
patcher from Heppner, fin-
ished third with 10.26% of the
vote, while Michael Sweek,
a chemical loader from Hep-
pner, was fourth with 9.65%.
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