Republicans Surge In Oregon

Former state House Minority Leader Christine Drazan won the Republican gubernatorial primary in Oregon Tuesday.

Drazan emerged from a large field of contenders seeking a chance to flip the governor’s office in a state that Democrats have held for nearly four decades.

Other Republican primary candidates included former Portland Trail Blazers player and businessman Chris Dudley, state Rep. Ed Diehl and Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell.

Drazan, who lost narrowly to Democratic Governor Tina Kotek in 2022, started the contest as one of the most well-known Republicans in the state.

Diehl campaigned on a platform of tax cuts and reduced state spending, whereas Bethell emphasized homelessness, public safety and government responsibility.

Dudley, a 16-year NBA veteran, ran as a political outsider supported by a number of major Oregon business figures, including Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

Republican candidates hammered on problems including homelessness, public safety, drug policy and the high cost of living, saying Democratic leadership in Salem and Portland hasn’t done enough to address such difficulties.

The GOP hasn’t won an Oregon governor’s race since 1982, but the Republican Party hopes voter dissatisfaction over crime, homelessness and affordability might make this midterm contest more competitive. Now, Fox News reports, Drazan will face incumbent Kotek in November.

Kotek has faced criticism on homelessness, particularly the rise in unsheltered people and struggles to grow the housing supply, as well as money for schools and transportation.

But she met little opposition for a second term.

At the same time, President Trump’s endorsed GOP candidates continue to win primaries across the country — often against incumbent Republicans who have either rejected the president or refused to support his agenda.

One of those who lost was Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who was wiped out Tuesday in his primary by decorated former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein.

The disclosure comes as Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said this week Republicans could outspend Democrats in this election cycle, a stunning turnaround from past campaigns when Democrats often had the fundraising edge.

Republicans are going into the midterm election in a far stronger financial position and with unparalleled coordination across the conservative movement, Gruters told Breitbart.

Host Mike Slater asked Gruters to give perspective on the current redistricting struggle in Virginia in which Democrats reportedly spent $70 million.

“How much money is that going to cost for the parties?” Slater inquired.

Gruters answered with a grim financial forecast for Democrats.

“The DNC is minus 4 million [dollars], and it wasn’t the DNC that plowed $70 million: It was the collective,” Gruters remarked.

“So if you look at the collective on the right, we may have $800 million,” he said.

“The collective on the left may have $350 million, and when you have the court, there’s gonna be a court case that is ruled on in the next week or two, coordinated campaign limits, which will magnify that, which will allow full coordination and allow the parties to spend at the candidate rate, which is massive for us,” he said.

“The financial landscape could be a historic departure from past election cycles,” Gruters added.

“When you have that financial advantage, people, you know, people don’t know that the Democrats routinely spend more than us on election cycles, because they have more massive donors and that will write massive checks,” he remarked.

But this time, this cycle [we] will either spend a parity or [we] will outspend them. And that never occurred before.

“The RNC itself is in much better shape than the Democratic National Committee,” Gruters said .

He said the RNC now has “about $125 million” in the bank versus what he called negative cash reserves at the DNC.