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State Sen. Elizabeth Steiner (D-Northwest Portland) trounced rival Jeff Gudman, a private investor and former Lake Oswego city councilor, in the Democratic primary for Oregon state treasurer.
As of 8 am Wednesday, Steiner was up 78% to 22%, with 312,000 votes counted.
In the Republican race for treasurer, Sen. Brian Boquist (R-Dallas) was running unopposed and had 99% of the vote.
Steiner and Gudman were vying to replace Democrat Tobias Read, the two-term treasurer who wasn’t allowed to run again because of term limits. He won his race for secretary of state against Sen. James Manning (D-Eugene), his closest rival, 70% to 21%.
During the race, Steiner said she had no designs on statewide office until Read asked her to run for his job. Steiner, 61, has experience with the state’s fiscal affairs from serving for six years as co-chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the body that minds the state’s purse strings.
Gudman, 70, pointed to his experience as treasurer for several nonprofit organizations, including the Multnomah Athletic Club and the Legacy Emanuel Foundation, a position he still holds.
Gudman has run for state treasurer twice before, both times in the Republican primary. This time, he ran as a Democrat because, he said in an interview, “the Republican Party has left me.”
In the Democratic primary for attorney general, where Ellen Rosenblum is retiring after two terms, former Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Dan Rayfield beat Shaina Maxey Pomerantz 76% to 23%, with 310,000 votes counted.
In the Republican primary, Will Lathrop, a former Marion County prosecutor, was on track to defeat businessman Michael Cross, 64% to 35%.