Nov. 5 is drawing near, Oregon’s vote-by-mail ballots are hitting postal boxes and, for what seems like the 100th time in the past 20 years, democracy is on the line.
Vote for president, vote for city councilor, vote in hotly contested races and vote in races with no challengers at all.
Every voting season, Eugene Weekly brings in political candidates to come talk to us. We watch and listen to debates, we observe candidates interacting anywhere from social media to public forums and we argue with friends, family, haters on the internet and each other about who we should endorse.
You don’t need to agree with us, but we’d really like you to vote as if your rights depend on it, because they do.
Federal Offices
President
Kamala Harris/ Tim Walz, Democrat
Donald J. Trump/ JD Vance, Republican; Robert F. Kennedy Jr/ Nicole Shanahan, We The People; Cornel West, Progressive; Chase Oliver/ Mike ter Maat, Libertarian; Randall Terry, Constitution; Jill Stein/ Rudolph Ware, Pacific Green
This one should be obvious. Eugene Weekly endorses the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ticket for democracy and our sanity.
US Representative 4th District
Val Hoyle, Democrat
Monique DeSpain, Republican, Constitution; Dan Bahlen, Libertarian; Justin Filip, Pacific Green
Rep. Val Hoyle seems to raise hackles sometimes — just like her predecessor Peter DeFazio did — and we need that. Politics these days is not for the meek, and Hoyle jumps in feet first on issues from reproductive health to working families. Oregon isn’t Oregon without a tiger in Congress and Hoyle has shown in her first term that she is trying to balance the needs of the climate, labor and rural communities.
Statewide
Secretary of State
Tobias Read, Democrat, Independent, Working Families
Dennis Linthicum, Republican, Constitution; Nathalie Paravicini, Pacific Green, Progressive
The Oregon Secretary of State’s office has had a lot of drama these past couple years — the latest is the DMV voter errors where it was discovered that ineligible voters were erroneously registered to vote via Oregon’s otherwise wildly successful Motor Voter program. Tobias Read has done his homework on the roles of the secretary of state from audits to records, and we have no doubt of the quality of his steady hand on this powerful role that’s next in line to the governorship.
State Treasurer
Elizabeth Steiner, Democrat
Brian Boquist, Republican, Constitution; Mary King, Working Families, Pacific Green
Elizabeth Steiner — a medical doctor — has put in the time on the Oregon Legislature’s powerful Joint Ways and Means Committee, and she doesn’t pull her punches when it comes to issues she cares about, like Oregonians’ financial literacy.
Attorney General
Dan Rayfield Democrat, Working Families
Will Lathrop, Republican
A man with experiences on both sides of the law, Dan Rayfield brings a measured approach to the attorney general’s office, complete with plans for common sense gun reform, further protections for abortion access and tackling substance abuse. His jump from the Legislature to the AG’s office is a logical one, given his almost two decades of experience as an attorney, and his experience and leadership as speaker of the House in the Legislature.
Senate District 5
Jo Beaudreau, Democrat
Dick Anderson, Republican
Jo Beaudreau is a small-business owner from Florence who has served on the city’s council and public arts committee. She faces an uphill battle against the incumbent, Republican Dick Anderson, but Beaudreau has snagged endorsements from labor unions and former U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio as well as the Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon. District 5 encompasses a huge swath of territory, including all of Lincoln County and parts of Lane, Douglas, Benton and Coos counties.
State Representative House District 7
John Lively, Democrat, Independent, Working Families
Cory Burket, Republican
State Representative House District 8
Lisa Fragala, Democrat
State Representative House District 9
Boomer Wright, Republican; William (Mrk) Mrkvicka, Democrat
State Representative House District 10
David Gomberg, Democrat, Independent, Republican
State Representative House District 12
Michelle Emmons, Democrat
Michelle Emmons has shown time and time again that she cares deeply about the people she seeks to serve. From Oakridge Trails Alliance to Willamette Riverkeeper, to the Oakridge-Westfir Chamber of Commerce and her fight against the big money behind the effort to turn scenic TV Butte into a gravel quarry, Emmons has the experience to get it done. Unlike her MAGA opponent Darin Harbick, Emmons holds no ties to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
State Representative House District 13
Nancy Nathanson, Democrat
Timothy Sutherland, Republican
State Representative District House 14
Julie Fahey, Democrat
State Ballot Measures
Measure 115 (Impeachment)
Authorizes impeachment of statewide elected officials by Oregon Legislature with two-thirds vote by each House; establishes process. Yes.
Curiously, Oregon is the only state in the union without a constitutional amendment giving the Legislature the power to impeach and remove elected state officials. The time is here to correct this oversight. There is no organized opposition to this measure.
Measure 116 (Statewide Compensation Commission)
Establishes “Independent Public Service Compensation Commission” to determine salaries for specified officials; eliminates legislative authority to set such salaries. Yes.
Elected officials should receive salaries that reflect the responsibilities of their jobs — and enable folks from all financial backgrounds to hold office. And salary decisions in Oregon should be independent of political pressure.
Measure 117 (Ranked Choice Voting)
Gives voters the option to rank candidates in order of preference; the candidate receiving the majority of votes in final round wins. Yes.
Ranked Choice Voting has been criticized by opponents who say it could be confusing. But first, let’s not underestimate voters, and second, democracy is messy, as they say. And if there’s one thing we have seen from school boards to the office of the president, we need a better democracy.
Measure 118 (Oregon Rebate)
Increases highest corporate minimum taxes; distributes revenue to eligible individuals; state replaces reduced federal benefits. No.
Eugene Weekly loves the idea of a universal basic income. But this proposal just doesn’t persuade us.
Measure 119 (Cannabis Union)
Cannabis retailers/processors must remain neutral regarding communications to their employees from labor organizations; penalties. No.
The fact the UFCW Local 555 is behind this measure raised our eyebrows — that union hasn’t redeemed itself since its inane recall effort against state Rep. Paul Holvey, but its backers aside, on paper this reads like more rights for workers (something we are all for). However, cannabis employees are already allowed to unionize under federal law, and Measure 119 will make it so any (even already licensed) cannabis dispensary must take that first step towards unionization or lose its licensure. That seems like a problem we don’t necessarily need.
Lane County
Sheriff
Clifton G. Harrold
Lane County Commission
North Eugene Commissioner
Pat Farr
Pat Farr has been the swing vote on the Lane County Board of Commissioners, walking a fine line between the right-wing leaning David Loveall and Ryan Ceniga and the progressives Laurie Trieger and Heather Buch. For EW to endorse him, we’d need to see better votes on issues that matter to rural voters like turning TV Butte into a gravel mine, and to all voters like gerrymandering voting districts. Farr would need to do better to get our endorsement.
South Eugene Commissioner
Laurie Trieger
Laurie Trieger’s knowledge of the issues is broad yet deep, and she relies not only on her own knowledge but on her ability to listen to her constituency.
Lane County Measures
Measures 20-359 to 20-361 are basically housekeeping, vote yes. Measure 20-362 is a gerrymander in progress. Vote no.
Measure No: 20-359 (County Expenditures)
The proposed amendment would repeal Section 32 of the Lane County Charter, which imposes specific limits on annual county expenditures. State laws governing county budgets would continue to apply, as appropriate. Yes.
Measure No: 20-360 (East Alton Baker Park)
The proposed amendment would repeal Section 33 of the Lane County Charter, which imposes restrictions on the use and development of East Alton Baker Park. Lane County no longer owns the land constituting East Alton Baker Park as it was sold to the city of Eugene. Yes.
Measure No: 20-361 (Income Tax)
The proposed amendment would repeal Section 34 of the Lane County Charter, which limits the rate of any Lane County income tax and directs how revenues are to be used. There is not currently any Lane County income tax. Yes.
Measure No: 20-362 (Gerrymander)
Should Lane County amend the Lane Charter to create redistricting commission, redistrict for 2026, thereafter redistrict after each decennial census? No.
City of Eugene
Mayor
Kaarin Knudson
City Councilor Ward 1
Eliza Kashinsky
City Councilor Ward 2
Matthew Keating
City Councilor Ward 7
Lyndsie Leech
City Councilor Ward 8
Randy Groves
Eugene Water & Electric Board
Wards 1 & 8
Tim Morris
Wards 2 & 3
John Barofsky
Wards 6 & 7
Sonya Carlson
Oakridge
Measure No: 20-364 (Allow voters to show preferences between candidates for city elections, aka STAR Voting) No.
If Oakridge wants to be Ground Zero for Score Then Automatic Runoff (STAR) Voting then more power to that rural community. EW tried STAR for Best of Eugene some years ago and neither we, nor our local voters, were impressed.