Another May primary has come and gone—though ballot counting continues, and while there were clear winners and losers, we may not have the results of certain tight races until days from now. In the meantime? Let’s recap Tuesday night’s ballot drop with a quick rundown of what happened, along with all the stats you political nerds know and love!
Tuesday’s primary election saw Oregon voters resoundingly reject a gas tax that included a vehicle registration fee increase that was intended to fund deep transportation needs across the state. (Not surprising that it fell flat, since our own state legislators refused to publicly support it.) In the gubernatorial primaries, Republican Christine Drazan handily pulled off the nomination, while write-in candidates garnered more votes than any of Governor Tina Kotek’s challengers in the democratic primary. (Not a good look.)
Meanwhile, a Multnomah County judge (Adrian Brown) was unseated after a months-long slap-fight with DA Nathan Vasquez, who made sure the public disagreement played out in the press weeks before the election. Also, Democrat incumbents in state and federal races are breathing sighs of relief after holding on to their seats against primary challengers.
Here’s where the ballot counting stood on Wednesday morning (May 20).
Statewide voter turnout (as of 8:30 am): 32.1%
Multnomah County voter turnout (as of 12:30 pm): 25.4%
Oregon Governor
Democrat:
Tina Kotek: 84.13% (projected winner)
Write-in: 3.12 %
Brittany Jones: 2.75%
Fora Alexander: 2.33%
Miranda Weigler: 2.10%
Republican:
Christine Drazan: 41.90% (projected winner)
Ed Diehl: 32.76%
Chris Dudley: 16.23%
Danielle Bethell: 2.16%
David Medina: 4.77%
Oregon State Senate
District 17:
Democrat:
Lisa Reynolds: 86.69% (projected winner)
Autumn Sharp: 13.00%
Republican:
John A N Chee (uncontested)
Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House District 38:
Democrat:
Daniel Nguyen: 75.52% (projected winner)
John (Waz) Wasielewski: 24.36%
Republican:
No candidate filed
Oregon House District 41
Democrat:
Mark Gamba: 93.73% (projected winner)
Priyesh Krishnan: 5.96%
Republican:
Elvis Clark (uncontested)
Oregon House District 43
Democrat:
Tawna Sanchez: 94.92% (projected winner)
Cye Sterling: 4.71%
Republican:
Tim LeMaster (uncontested)
Labor Commissioner
Christina Stephenson: 62.24% (projected winner)
Chris Lynch: 37.18%
Metro Council
Metro Council President:
Juan Carlos González: 65.43% (projected winner)
Bruce Broussard: 6.54%
Chris Christensen: 15.41%
Ken Ross: 10.38%
Philip Fensterer: 1.57%
Write-in: 0.66%
Metro Council District 1:
Ashton Simpson: 58.63%
Noah Ernst: 40.03%
Write-In: 1.34%
Metro Council District 4:
Miles Palacios: 51.16%
Alex Phan 47.86%
Write-In 0.97%
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge
Circuit Court Position 2:
Laura Maurer Rowan: 29.54%
Diane Sykes: 28.53%
Chris Behre: 18.62%
Anit Jindhal: 8.30%
Juliet Britton: 14.39%
Circuit Court Position 5:
Joanna Perini-Abbott: 65.44% (projected winner)
John Casalino: 33.97%
Circuit Court Position 12:
Adrian Brown: 29.78%
Peter G. Klym: 69.46% (projected winner)
Circuit Court Position 14:
Joseph Hagedorn: 35.72%
Elizabeth Savage: 24.40%
Bradford Gerke: 6.14%
Kristine Almquist: 9.19%
Heidi Brown: 12.52%
Michael Lee: 11.53%
Measures
Measure 120: Transportation Services
Yes: 16.66%
No: 83.34% (projected winner)
Measure 26-261: Five Year Levy, Oregon Historical Society
Yes: 60.41% (projected winner)
No: 39.59%
US House of Representatives
US House, 1st District:
Democrat:
Suzanne Bonamici: 88.00% (projected winner)
Jamil Ahmad: 11.42%
Republican:
Barbara J Kahl: 71.70% (projected winner)
John Verbeek: 27.14%
US House, 3rd District:
Democrat:
Maxine Dexter: 90.01% (projected winner)
Jessica Salas: 7.09%
Andrew Castilleja: 2.43%
Republican:
Loran Ayles: (uncontested)
US House, 5th District:
Democrat:
Janelle Bynum: 83.31% (projected winner)
Zeva Rosenbaum: 16.12%
Republican:
Patti Adair: 60.23% (projected winner)
Jonathan Lockwood: 39.05%
US Senate
Democrat:
Jeff Merkley: 93.30% (projected winner)
Paul Damian Wells: 6.08%
Republican:
David Brock Smith: 29.79%
Jo Rae Perkins: 27.05%
Brent Barker: 23.15%
Russell McAlmond: 11.41%
Deborah C Brown: 3.82%
David A Burch: 2.40%
Timothy Skelton: 1.52%