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For the first time in 40 years, a Republican might be elected Oregon’s governor.
I know, young radicals, just breathe through it. It’s OK to feel nervous. Portland is a weird liberal city, and it has been for as long as a lot of us have been alive, but Oregon’s rural counties are often quite conservative and it makes for an uncomfortable dichotomy.
For a generation, Portland’s densely populous, liberal voting majority has kept the whole state blue, which makes it particularly exceptional that for the first time in such a long time, Oregon might start seeing red. I’m not nervous. Why would I be nervous?
Christine Drazan, the Republican nominee for governor, made major waves in Salem as the House minority leader, where her obstructionist MO earned her a reputation as both necessarily bold and unnecessarily confrontational, depending on whom you ask.
Today, my guest is Connor Radnovitch, who covered Drazan as a legislative reporter for the Statesman Journal in Salem and whose cover piece for this week’s WW is a super-comprehensive profile of her. Connor and I will discuss what it is about Chrstine that has so many people thinking that this might be the year Portland gets theoretically painted red.