Oregonians voting in the 2026 governor’s race will decide between two familiar faces: State Sen. Christine Drazan and Democratic incumbent Gov. Tina Kotek.
The Republican state senator from Canby who lost to Kotek by a few percentage points in a three-way race in 2022 took an early lead in the Republican primary for Oregon’s 2026 governor’s race on Tuesday night, and the Associated Press called the race in her favor shortly before 9 p.m. Kotek, meanwhile, was handily defeating her nine lesser-known Democratic challengers.
Speaking to supporters at an Aurora winery shortly after that call, Drazan thanked her primary competitors and called for unity ahead of what she described would be a tough fight to unseat Kotek.
“You probably know lots of people in your life that say ‘I have never voted for a Republican in my life,’ and I’m going to ask you to have conversations with them and say, ‘What about now?’” she said.
State Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, was in second place, followed by ex-NBA player and 2010 gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley. Right-wing influencer David Medina and Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell were the only other candidates to receive more than 1% of the vote.
Polling leading up to May’s primary had shown Drazan leading the race, and she has sought to portray herself as the clearest choice for GOP voters to seize control of Mahonia Hall in November. Her win sets up the third instance in state history where voters have the same option from both parties twice in a row.
Dudley, Bethell concede; Diehl waits
Dudley offered a concession speech to a somber crowd of about 50 people at the Cheerful Tortoise in Portland, saying he called Drazan to offer his support.
“You deal with it and you move on and you go forward. So we’ll figure out what’s the best way to go forward to make our state better,” he said. “I’m still bullish. I’m still positive about our future as a state.”
But some of his supporters weren’t as ready to embrace Drazan. Andrea Maifield and Lori James Smith, of Sherwood, both described Dudley as someone who understands the dynamics of bringing a “team” together. The two said he would have been an anecdote to partisan politics made worse by his competitors in the Republican and Democratic parties.
Both said they are not immediately ready to vote for Drazan.
“I’d take a pause,” James Smith said.
Bethell acknowledged her loss in a brief statement.
“Obviously not the results we were looking for, but we wish Sen. Drazan the best,” spokesperson Betsy Schultz said.
With unofficial election results at 9 p.m. showing Drazan with nearly an 11% lead, Diehl thanked his wife and supporters — still celebrating the failure of Measure 120, the gas tax and transportation fee increases he fought to refer to the ballot.
“There is one thing that we want to call now, and that’s the gas tax,” he said. “What that showed all of Oregon is that your voice matters. You stood up to a gas tax that you knew was wrong, and you didn’t accept Gov. Tina Kotek ramming it down your throats. That is a signal that the people of Oregon have a voice, and you will be heard.”
His campaign said he’ll wait until Wednesday morning to say more.
Drazan faces tough general election
Drazan, 53, grew up in southern Oregon in a family that struggled financially as mills closed in the 1980s. She has spent most of her adult life in and around the Capitol, as a legislative staffer and lobbyist before she won election to the state House in 2018.
Months later, House Republicans chose her as their caucus leader, setting up tense showdowns with then-Speaker Kotek and walkouts over climate legislation and redistricting. Drazan left the House in January 2022 to run for governor, placing second to Kotek in a three-way race that also included nonaffiliated candidate and longtime state Sen. Betsy Johnson.
Drazan returned to the House in 2025 and was reelected as caucus leader before she even took office. She jumped to the Senate last fall when Sen. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles and her former deputy in the House, resigned to take a federal appointment.
Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican as governor since 1982, when then-incumbent Republican Gov. Vic Atiyeh capitalized on his ties to business communities and ability to navigate a severe economic recession. Following the successful push to get an anti-gas tax referendum on the May ballot, the party sees another opportunity to win the position and seize upon growing discontent with Kotek’s handling of issues such as low educational achievement, homelessness and economic development.
The rematch is likely to generate familiar opposition from Kotek’s well-funded campaign, the Democratic Party of Oregon and the Democratic Governors Association, who have sought to link the GOP gubernatorial candidate to the Trump administration in the midst of a competitive primary where voters lean further to the right than the general electorate.
Drazan, for instance, has sent conflicting messages on her position related to the president’s attempted deployment of the National Guard to Portland. She has said her focus is on addressing the cost of living and sought to distance herself from what she calls “divisive” national politics.
“The future of our state is not in the hands of the political pundits, and it is not frozen in time,” Drazan said. “We’re not a state that can’t change. We are a state that is a state of innovators and pioneers, and we are ready for the next chapter of our state.”
Nathan Soltz, chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon, previewed his party’s attacks on Drazan’s campaign in a statement, saying her nomination proved Trump was on the ballot in Oregon.
“At a time when Trump’s disastrous and reckless policies are hurting businesses and raising costs for families, Oregonians deserve a leader that will stand up for them, not someone who is looking to take orders from the White House,” Soltz said. “Oregon already rejected Christine Drazan’s extremist agenda once, and we look forward to doing it again.”
Senior reporter Alex Baumhardt contributed reporting from Portland and reporter Mia Maldonado from Stayton.
Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com.
