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Money continues to pour into what is already the most expensive governor's race in Oregon history, with a month still to go before the Nov. 6 election day.
In the past week alone, incumbent Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, reported raising $1.2 million.
Among the big checks: $250,000 from the Democratic Governors' Association and $100,000 each from the Oregon Education Association, the statewide teachers' union, and from Working for a Working America, a Washington, D.C. labor organization. Brown also got checks from a couple of big names in Silicon Valley: $20,000 from Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs (she's now given Brown a total $65,000) and $5,000 from Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.
Brown's main opponent, state Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend), had an even bigger fundraising week, reporting contributions of $2.86 million, including $500,000 from the Republican Governors' Association, $250,000 from Hank Swigert, a former owner of Portland manufacturer ESCO Corp., and $100,000 each from the Pape Group, the Oregon Realtors Association and George Austin, Jr. the CEO of a Newberg dental equipment maker.
Those contributions allowed Buehler to narrow substantially the fundraising advantage Brown holds. The governor has raised $11.3 million since Jan. 1, 2017 and has $4 million in the bank. Buehler has now raised a total of $10.7 million and has $2.2 million on hand.
The candidates' combined total of $22 million eclipses the $18 million total that Republican Chris Dudley ($10.5 million) and Democrat John Kitzhaber ($7.5 million) raised in 2010.