Gov. Kotek says she’s ‘proud’ to serve another term, but Drazan says ‘this race is not over’

Gov. Tina Kotek appeared poised to win a second term Tuesday, suggesting Oregon voters opted for the certainty of an unpopular Democratic governor over a shift to the right in one of the nation’s bluest states.

At 10 p.m., Kotek led Drazan, 52.4% to 44.9%, with more than 1.4 million ballots counted. Pacific Green Party candidate Brett Smith received 2.6% of the vote.

“Thanks to your work and your support, I am proud to be here as your next governor,” Kotek said in a speech shortly after 9:20 p.m. at a raucous election party in downtown Portland. “I hope everything goes well, but we have four more years together and we’re going to work hard to continue to move the state we love forward.”

The Associated Press has not yet called the race. OPB does not call races.

If Kotek’s lead holds, Democrats would notch their last consecutive victory dating back four decades, riding the national blue wave that flipped U.S. Senate seats in traditionally Republican-led states like Texas, South Carolina and Kansas. Democrats have won the Oregon governorship in every election since 1986.

In Hillsboro, at a Drazan campaign party, state Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis took the stage just after 9 p.m. and said the campaign wasn’t giving up. “We know Republicans are voting late and we have about a million votes left to count,” Boshart Davis said. “We’re going to have a long night.”

Shortly after 10 p.m., Drazan took the stage and spoke for about five minutes. She said she wouldn’t speak again Tuesday. Drazan did not concede. “This race is not over,” she said, adding that votes were still being counted.

In his speech, Drazan called on Democrats to make the race a matter of national politics and ignore the state’s failing schools and the crisis in the streets. “They spent the last year fighting partisan battles,” she said. “I’ve visited venues across this state and heard from Oregonians how much they need change,” Drazan said.

This year’s gubernatorial race is a partial rematch of 2022, when Kotek and Drazan faced off alongside former state Sen. Betsy Johnson’s well-funded unaffiliated campaign.

The race followed what has become a familiar narrative in Oregon, with limited polling suggesting the two candidates were virtually neck and neck.

As Election Day approaches, political forecasters have repeatedly downgraded Kotek’s perceived advantage. A race that was labeled “Solid Democratic” after the May primaries was ultimately handicapped as only “Skinny Democratic” by organizations like the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections.

Throughout the race, Drazan relied on Kotek’s low approval ratings to argue that the governor had overseen a declining economy and failed to deliver on promises to address the state’s housing shortage, improve educational outcomes and strengthen the state’s behavioral health offerings.

Kotek insisted she had started to make progress in all of those areas, but she spent most of her time tying Drazan to President Donald Trump’s unpopular policies. Democrats have warned that nominating a Republican to Mahonia Hall would give Trump a sympathetic partner in Oregon on immigration controls, cuts to health benefits and more.

Drazan has continually tried to deviate from that Democratic message by promising that, if elected, she would enforce sanctuary state laws and protect Oregonians’ ability to vote by mail.

The former longest-serving speaker of the state House of Representatives, Kotek came to office four years ago with a reputation for ruthless efficiency in enacting Democratic priorities. The former nonprofit advocate often says she will always prioritize the people who need it most. She worked to expand the social safety net and create new regional networks to help people escape homelessness.

But Kotek acknowledges that success on his top priorities hasn’t come quickly during his four years as governor.

“If anything, I’ve learned in this first term that the wheels of change are probably a little slower than I’m happy with,” she recently told OPB. “We have to work harder to continue to make progress for people. »

Drazan made a point of telling voters on the campaign trail that she was born in Oregon, in Klamath Falls. She is the youngest of three children and grew up in a family that she said sometimes had to worry about money. She graduated from George Fox University, a conservative Christian school in Newberg.

After college, Drazan briefly worked in public relations before coming to Salem, where she worked as a staffer for Republican leaders at a time when Republicans were in the majority in the House of Representatives.

There, the mother of three saw the potential influence the Republican Party could have in the state. In 2019, Drazan became the Republican leader in the House. She ran for governor in 2022 and was appointed to the state Senate in 2025.