Legislative candidates supported by Humane Voters Oregon did well in Oregon's election November 3. We endorsed and supported 36 candidates for the state House of Representatives and all but six won election, with one of the losses coming in a race where we endorsed both candidates (House District 54 in Bend). We endorsed six candidates for the state Senate and all of them won. Highlights include:
Deborah Patterson won a seat in the Oregon Senate (Senate District 10 in the Salem area) by defeating incumbent Denyc Boles. We believe Deborah, who gave good answers on our candidate questionnaire and reached out to us during her campaign, will be a great supporter and leader on animal welfare issues. We look forward to working with her.
Representative Brad Witt won re-election in a hard-fought race in the rural area Northwest of Portland including Scapoose, Vernonia and Clatskanie (House District 31). Representative Witt was the chief sponsor in 2020 of a bill to ban coyote-killing contests and plans to bring that bill back in 2021. (The bill was stalled by political maneuvering in 2020.)
Representative David Gomberg, a key leader on animal welfare, won re-election in his district on the mid-Coast (House District 10) on what was otherwise a difficult day for progressive candidates on the Oregon coast.
Representative Courtney Neron, another key leader on animal welfare, won re-election in a hard-fought contest in the Southwest Portland Metro area (House District 25), winning over challenger Peggy Stevens.
Representative Chris Gorsek, a reliable advocate for wildlife and a co-chair of the Wildlife Caucus in the Legislature, moved up to the state Senate by winning the race for the seat in the Gresham and Troutdale areas (Senate District 25). The seat was previously held by Laurie Monnes Anderson, who did not seek re-election.
We look forward to working with several other new legislators we endorsed who won election Tuesday. Along with Deborah Patterson (see above), Kate Lieber won the election for Senate District 14 (Beaverton area). Newly elected members of the House of Representatives (endorsed by Humane Voters Oregon) are Wlnsvey Campos in House District 28 (Aloha area), Maxine Dexter in House District 33 (Northwest Portland), Dacia Grayber in House District 35 (Tigard area), Zach Hudson in House District 49 (Troutdale area), and Jason Kropf in House District 54 (Bend area).
Congratulations to these candidates! And thank you to our supporters who donated to our campaign account (Humane Voters Oregon PAC) and allowed us to support many of these candidates financially.
See a complete list of our endorsed candidates and their election outcome here. For detailed results from Oregon elections officials, go here. Meanwhile, please help us continue to support animal-friendly candidates by going here to make a donation to our political action committee. Your contribution qualifies for Oregon's political contribution tax credit, meaning you may be able to get the full value back on your tax return (up to $50 on an individual return and $100 on a joint return). See our donation page for more information, and thank you again for your support in this past election cycle.