Oregonians made their voices heard at the ballot box on Tuesday night, re-electing Democratic Gov. Kate Brown and rejecting several high-profile state ballot measures that, among other things, would have revoked Oregon’s status as a sanctuary state and restricted access to abortion.
Recent polling suggested that the governor’s race would be close. According to OPB, a poll conducted just a week ago showed that Brown lead Republican candidate, Knute Buehler, by only three percentage points. Brown defeated Buehler by a little more than five percentage points on Tuesday night.
Lane County voters showed they heavily favored the incumbent Democratic governor, with 54.6 percent of the county’s voters supporting Brown and 38.4 percent voting for Buehler.
Oregon voters also re-elected Democrat Peter DeFazio as the Representative for Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Eugene and Springfield. He had 56 percent of the vote over his Republican opponent Art Robinson. Before Robinson became the nominee, he had to beat several other Republican candidates in the primary, including a UO student.
Oregonians also overwhelmingly voted against Measure 105, which would have repealed Oregon’ status as a sanctuary state. Under Oregon’s sanctuary laws, state law enforcement agencies cannot use resources to arrest people whose only offense is being in the country illegally. Almost 63 percent of Oregon voters opposed the measure, and 68.3 percent of Lane County voted in favor of keeping the sanctuary state laws.
Almost two-thirds of Oregon Voters also said no to Measure 106, a measure that would have banned the use of public funding for abortions.
Voters passed Measure 102, which will allow government agencies to work with private companies to issue bonds to build affordable housing.
Oregonians also opposed Measure 103, which would have prohibited a future tax on groceries, and Measure 104, which would have amended the constitution to require a supermajority vote on any legislation that would have increased revenue.
On the national level, Democrats reclaimed the House of Representatives and the Republicans held their majority in the Senate. Vulnerable Democratic senators in key states such as Missouri and North Dakota lost to their Republican challengers.
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