Top Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidates set to debate in Hillsboro this week; KTVZ+ plans to livestream event

By Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM, Ore. -- The top four leading candidates for the Republican nomination in Oregon’s 2026 gubernatorial race are set to debate each other for the first time Thursday evening.

The event, hosted by the Oregon Republican Party, will take place at a Hillsboro venue that has hosted an annual GOP fundraising and networking dinner for the past several years. Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell, state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and former NBA player Chris Dudley met the party’s minimum fundraising requirements to qualify for the debate. 

“At a time when our state is facing serious challenges — including struggling education outcomes, rising costs of living, high taxes, substance abuse issues, and businesses leaving Oregon — this debate provides voters with an important opportunity to evaluate new ideas and leadership approaches, and to consider the direction they want for themselves, their families, and the future of our state,” said Connie Whelchel, chair of the Oregon Republican Party, in a press release.

KTVZ News plans to livestream Thursday evening's event on KTVZ+.

Oregon has not elected a Republican governor since the 1980s, and only two Republicans have won statewide since 2000.

Democratic incumbent Gov. Tina Kotek, however, has ranked among the most unpopular governors nationwide, according to polling, and the forum offers a fresh opportunity for the candidates to introduce themselves to the state’s more than 730,000 registered GOP voters.

It comes ahead of the Tuesday, April 28 deadline to register to vote or change one’s party affiliation — the next day, state officials will begin mailing ballots to Oregonians.

But the road to the first major debate including all of the candidates has not been without bumps. One debate in Salem set for April 2 fell apart after Diehl and Dudley declined to participate because of Drazan’s absence.

Last week, Drazan, who also skipped out on the GOP candidates’ first forum together in January, declined to attend a debate hosted by The Oregonian/OregonLive and KGW. Her campaign pointed to her plans for 15 debates and candidate forums, as well as Kotek’s lack of participation in town halls.

The move prompted Dudley to drop out of that debate and Diehl’s campaign to issue a scathing press release, calling it “pitiful that two adults running for governor are afraid to face voters or answer important questions about their vision for Oregon.”

The lack of debates featuring all of the top candidates has raised the stakes for Thursday, according to Dan Mason, national committeeperson for the Oregon Republican Party.

“Selfishly, it helps our debate with the level of interest,” he told the Capital Chronicle. “The Oregon Republican Party typically has not done its own debate and relied on other entities to do forums and debates, and so this the first one that we’ve done, I think, in over a decade.”

It’s the most competitive Republican primary for governor in the past 15 years in Mason’s view, and he said having two former candidates for governor on stage is notable. Dudley in 2010 came within 23,000 votes of defeating Democrat John Kitzhaber, the closest any Republican gubernatorial candidate has come to winning in Oregon in decades. Drazan lost by fewer than 67,000 votes in a three-way race with Kotek and nonaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson in 2022. 

One notable absence from Thursday’s debate, however, will be David Medina, the conservative influencer and Jan. 6 rioter who faced charges but was later pardoned by President Donald Trump.

Candidates were required to have raised at least $100,000 in reported contributions, have at least 250 individual donors and to agree to support the eventual 2026 Republican nominee. Campaign finance records show Medina failed to meet those financial requirements, with his campaign receiving more than $70,000 in contributions, $20,000 of which he loaned himself.

Medina acknowledged the Oregon Republican Party set “clear benchmarks a while back” in an April 11 social media post and urged his supporters to tune in and support the debate regardless. 

“Honestly if I wanted to be on those minimum qualifications I would have taken big checks a  long time ago,” he said in a video. “But unfortunately they came with strings, and I made a promise to you that this would be a grassroots-funded campaign.”

Former TV meteorologist  Bruce Sussman and  Angela Todd, a Portland-based right-leaning influencer whose media platform has advocated for a Republican governor, will moderate the debate. Candidates are expected to face questions around four major issues: housing and homelessness, business and industry, forestry and environment and community and safety. 

One major issue missing? The federal administration under Trump and the GOP’s control of Congress. Democrats nationwide are expecting to capitalize upon their unpopularity to make major gains in the 2026 midterm season.

The Democratic Party of Oregon has slammed the candidates in the past few weeks for their unwillingness to challenge the Trump administration. In one representative press release, party spokesperson Federico Araujo accused Diehl, Drazan and Dudley of being “too cowardly” to defend “their support for Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda.”

Mason said that his party is asking for a “generational upset” in the governor’s race, though he said that this year “not a great cycle for Republicans.” He pointed to Kotek’s unpopularity, along with the state’s low rankings on performance for education and economic development nationwide, as reasons to be hopeful for a Republican victory.

“We’re hoping to offer replacement to that current program,” he said. “The Democrats have been in full control of the House, the Senate and the governorship in my humble, but accurate opinion (for) too long.”

After the 90-minute debate, candidates have been invited to a spin room where they can take questions and address the press. Bethell immediately confirmed through a spokesperson on Tuesday that she would be participating in that press event. Diehl also confirmed his attendance. 

The debate is set to begin at 7 p.m. Oregonians interested in watching the debate through a livestream can also sign up on the Oregon GOP’s website.