There is a chance that Oregon will have its first Republican governor in a long time next month.
It would be a huge blow to the Democrats in a state that has been one of the most progressive in the nation. Portland is the epicenter of left-wing activism in support of causes like de funding the police and drug decriminalization.
Portland is not doing well by all accounts. The city is facing a homeless crisis and residents are concerned. When he announced his reelection bid earlier this year, the Portland native called the city a broken place.
A Portland resident told the Oregonian that there was a big feeling of lawlessness.
Some of the state's left-leaning voters may support a Republican candidate for governor this fall.
Christine Drazan, a Republican, is campaigning on the issues of homelessness, drug addiction and crime. In the last week or so, she has surged to claim a 1-point lead in the FiveThirtyEight polling average over her main opponent.
According to a poll by the Oregonian, homelessness is the most important issue for voters in the state. A majority of Oregonians think the state's justice system isn't tough enough.
Things in Portland and much of the state are not good. According to Morning Consult, the most unpopular state executive in the country is Kate Brown of Oregon.
After 2021, the murder rate is expected to break another record. Four people were killed in Portland last weekend, two by shooting and two by stabbing. The Old Town neighborhood was the location of one of the stabbings.
More than 50 people woke up on Saturday to find their tires had been slashed.
Betsy Johnson is an independent candidate for governor who has been competitive in the polls. Portland is becoming a "city of roaches" according to Johnson. "Tent City Tina" is an attack on Kotek's sponsorship of House Bill 3115 which restrained local governments from criminalizing homeless people for camping.
Johnson, who has raised more money than Kotek or Drazan but has remained in third place at around 20%, said that Kotek is so awake that she sided with the rioters. After the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, protesters and police clashed in Portland. The Portland City Council restored $5 million to the police budget after cutting it by fifteen million dollars.
Kotek responded to the crime wave by saying that it is not acceptable. I will not sit back and watch crime rise in Portland. I will fight to get illegal guns off the street.
Voters are concerned about homelessness because it is a constant reminder of the region's issues.
All the things we've been doing, it's not enough.
She said that people are frustrated about the pace of progress.
Democrats have held a monopoly on power in Oregon for a long time, which is why Kotek is facing a stiff challenge.
She has more detailed plans for how to deal with homelessness than Drazan does. A religious studies major in college, Kotek has a background in humanitarian causes. She worked for both the Oregon Food Bank and Children First for Oregon.
Keny-Guyer said that she has done more on housing and homelessness than any other leader.
Most experts agree that a complicated, hard-to-solve issue is a problem that Drazan has not offered much in the way of specific plans for how to fix it. Republicans refused to show up for the legislative session in order to prevent Democrats from passing a climate change bill. A declaration of a statewide homelessness emergency was one of the bills that failed to pass because of the GOP's walk out.
Because many Oregon residents seem to be exhausted after a few years, Drazan has gained ground.
Homelessness increased in Oregon during Tina Kotek's time as speaker of the House. She had a lot of Democrats in the Legislature. John Burke told Yahoo News that the only thing stopping her was herself.
Kosket can try to pass the buck on this, but she and her allies are to blame for the humanitarian crisis.
Drazan removed her website's references to her endorsement by Oregon Right to Life in order to make herself more acceptable to voters who lean left on social issues. Larry Hogan is a moderate Republican governor from a state that is dominated by Democrats.
A law passed in 2020 that decriminalized small amounts of hard drugs such as heroin or methamphetamines will be repealed. It was part of a larger effort to get drug users into treatment.
The problem of overdoses and addiction is due to the fact that there is not enough pressure to get people to seek treatment. They didn't think it was a good idea to repeal Measure-110.
The inability to stem the drug problem comes from a failure by Brown and the state's health agency to distribute $500 million in funding to ramp up treatment center availability.
The governor has not been present to make sure that money has left the door. The Oregon Health Authority has done a poor job of moving resources.
She said she was frustrated by the leadership at the health authority.
Kotek needs to convince voters that she represents a new chapter rather than the same old thing. Drazan is portraying herself as a change candidate and calling Kotek a continuation of the status quo.
Kotek said it was a laughable characterisation. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a change agent.
Voters will largely depend on whether or not they believe Kotek when she tells them that she and her party can fix Oregon.
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