GENERAL ELECTION RECAP Dec. 7, 2022
Oregon will have a new Democratic governor next year but Clackamas County didn’t vote for her. Tina Kotek will be governor but she lost here 42.93% to 47.52% to Canby’s Christine Drazan.
Same for a new Member of Congress in Oregon’s 5th District. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican who bought most of Trump’s outlandish lies, will represent the 5th Congressional District instead of Jamie McLeod-Skinner. DeRemer’s TV ad campaign found new lows in taste and truthfulness.
Clackamas’ voter turnout of 68.74% exceeded the state-wide 65.87%, while providing several key victories and some terribly disappointing defeats.
On the very bright side: State Senator Rob Wagner, of Lake Oswego, was re-elected and his colleagues then selected him to replace outgoing Peter Courtney as Senate President. Joining him, with Jama, will be newcomer Aaron Woods, of Wilsonville, and Mark Meek, of Gladstone.
Meek moved from the House by ousting Republican Bill Kennemer by 456 votes out of 62,000. Meek’s Democratic replacement in the House, Annessa Hartman, won by an even closer margin, 179 votes. Other newcomers in the lower chamber are former mayor Mark Gamba, of Milwaukie; former mayor Jules Walters, of West Linn; Daniel Nguyen, of Lake Oswego, and Hoa Nguyen, of East Multnomah County. The Nguyens, who are not related, are among five new legislators of Southeast Asian heritage.
Leading our House returnees are Janelle Bynum, of Happy Valley, and Courtney Neron, of Wilsonville, entering her third term.Three of our other Democratic incumbents in Neron’s class did not seek re-election and one, with the base shifting from Hood River to The Dalles, fell to a Republican.
Losing the 5th CD and two County Commission seats was intensely difficult and disappointing. Jamie McLeod-Skinner was beaten by near 2:1 margins in Linn and Marion Counties as rural citizens showed up in unexpected force to vote against Measure 114, a gun control tool.
Also feeling that impact in rural Clackamas were incumbent County Commissioner Sonya Fischer and challenger Libra Forde. Fischer lost to right-winger Ben West, of Wilsonville, in a major upset while Forde couldn’t get past well-funded GOP incumbent Paul Savas.
On the very bright side, Sherry Hall, undoubtedly the worst County Clerk in Oregon, was handily put out to pasture by newcomer Catherine McMullen. No longer will our county be the laughingstock of Oregon due to Hall’s constant and embarrassing election miscues.
Also locally, Clackamas voters joined the winners circle as Portland Community College passed a major bond issue and Metro’s Parks and Natural Resources bond also passed. Lake Oswego’s PCC board member, Laurie Cremona Wagner, played a key role in that campaign.
--Peter Toll, outgoing Campaign Committee Chair