Oregonians wrap up voting on high-stakes races, local issues

By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Oregonians have just hours to turn in their ballots, and a lot is at stake in this November’s election.

The presidential election won’t depend on Oregon, which has reliably given its electoral votes to the Democratic nominee since 1984, when it joined every state but Minnesota in reelecting Republican Ronald Reagan. But voters in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District may determine which party controls the U.S. House, and voters throughout the state will make their voices heard on local and statewide laws and who should represent them in Salem. 

They’ll decide whether the former Democratic speaker of the House or a Republican former prosecutor should be Oregon’s next top lawyer and whether the job of overseeing Oregon’s elections should go to the Democratic state treasurer or a Republican who routinely spreads election misinformation. They’ll also decide which state senator should control the state treasury. 

Voters from Bend to Oregon City will weigh in on one of the most competitive congressional races in the country and decide whether first-term Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer will get another term or whether state Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat who twice defeated Chavez-DeRemer in legislative elections, will make good on her repeated promise to beat Chavez-DeRemer a third time. 

And voters in the Willamette Valley and along the coast will determine the outcome of their own competitive congressional races. Democratic U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas faces a rematch with Republican Mike Erickson in the 6th Congressional District, and Republican Monique DeSpain is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle in the 4th Congressional District.

Across the state, voters will decide whether to give the Legislature the authority to impeach statewide elected officials, give an independent commission power to set elected officials’ salaries, let voters rank candidates on a ballot, tax businesses more to divide the proceeds among all Oregonians and make it easier for cannabis employees to unionize with their votes on five statewide ballot measures. In local communities around the state, they’ll vote on banning psilocybin businesses, share their opinions on offshore wind and decide whether to pay more in property taxes to fund schools and roads. 

All 60 state House districts and 15 of the 30 state Senate districts are also up for election. Democrats now hold 35 House seats and 17 Senate seats, and just one more in either chamber could give them the 60% supermajority needed to create new taxes or raise existing ones. Republicans are looking to shrink those majorities, as they did in 2022. 

Voters who haven’t yet cast their ballots have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to drop them in a designated drop box. Ballots postmarked by Tuesday will also be counted — voters who choose to mail their ballots should go to a post office to ensure they receive a postmark. That’s especially important east of the Cascades, where mail collected from mailboxes is trucked to Portland before receiving a postmark. 

Initial election results will be posted shortly after 8 p.m. on the Secretary of State’s website. Results will continue to be posted throughout the night and the following days, and they’re not official until the election is certified in December. Media organizations will project the outcome of races based on available data on election night and in the coming days, and the Capital Chronicle will defer to race calls from the Associated Press.