Oregon's May Primary Offers Ill Tidings for November's $3 Billion Tax Measure

Here are the winners and losers of the May 17 primary election.

By Aaron Mesh

Winners:

Ted Wheeler

The next Portland mayor dispatched his would-be spoilers before sundown, eventually finishing with 54.7 percent of the vote.

Mark Callahan

He secured the Republican nomination to run against U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), despite never stating his position on the Easter Bunny.

Tawna Sanchez

The victor in the state's closest race, in a North/Northeast Portland House district, wins by 123 votes, becoming the only Native American representative in the Oregon Legislature.

Losers:

DHM Research

The Portland pollsters not only failed to predict Sen. Bernie Sanders' win in the Oregon Democratic primary—they missed it by a whopping 28 percentage points.

Matt Wingard

The former state representative from Wilsonville left Salem in 2012 after admitting to sex with a staffer. He's not going back—Republican voters chose Richard Vial instead.

Initiative Petition 28

Supporters of November's $3 billion corporate tax proposal saw dire omens when a city gas tax narrowly passed, receiving just 52.1 percent of the vote in tax-happy Portland.

For a longer list of winners and losers, click here.

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