The End of the Line for Republican Governors in Oregon

Thirty years ago, Republican Norma Paulus and Democrat Neil Goldschmidt waged an epic battle.

By Nigel Jaquiss

As the Nov. 8 election day approaches, the state's leading political reporters are weighing in with profiles of Gov. Kate Brown, who, polls show, owns a comfortable lead over her GOP challenger Dr. Bud Pierce.

Over the weekend, The Oregonian's Hillary Borrud focused on what Brown hasn't done: head off Measure 97, the $3 billion corporate tax increase that is dominating the ballot, or convey much of an agenda.

Today, Oregon Public Broadcasting's Jeff Mapes weighed in on what Brown has done: pass minimum wage legislation, expand Oregon's commitment to renewable energy—and shake a lot of hands.

This year's desultory race for governor nicely tees up Portland Monthly's look at a very different governor's race 30 years ago, when the GOP candidate, Norma Paulus, entered the race as a strong favorite over former Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt, a Democrat.

Here's how writer Brent Walth—formerly WW's news editor and now an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Oregon—sets the stage:

"Today, what we want are candidates who stand as tall as the challenges we face. We rarely get them. Oregon votes blue, and lopsided statewide races often come down to a not-a-hope-in-hell Republican running against a Democrat who wins without breaking a sweat," Walth writes. "But in 1986, Paulus and Goldschmidt delivered. The two best candidates in a generation waged a fierce debate over Oregon's future, matching each other step by step until the campaign's final days. As political drama, it was Oregon's last epic."

In those days, the GOP dominated Oregon's statewide offices—both U.S. senators, the governor, secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer were all Republicans in 1986.

Paulus and Goldschmidt competed to succeed then-Gov. Vic Atiyeh in an office Republicans had held for 40 of the previous 46 years.

But as Walth writes, Paulus, the first woman to hold statewide office in Oregon and then in her second term as secretary of state, made a fateful error, losing her lead—and the race to Goldschmidt.

Oregon has not elected a Republican governor since.

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