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Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek wins reelection, CBS News projects, a closer-than-expected campaign in a reliably blue state that hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 1982.
Although Democrats were generally favored in the national environment, Kotek’s race against Christine Drazan was one of the biggest nail-biters for a Democratic incumbent in the country.
Kotek, first elected in 2022, is one of the most unpopular governors in the country as the state struggles with a large homeless population and as many residents feel the state is going in the wrong direction. A DHM Research poll in September showed 59% of Oregonians disapproved of the state’s direction, and 58% disapproved of Kotek.
While Kotek won four years ago with the backing of major labor unions, she had lost some of that support support this year. The the state’s largest public education union declined to endorse in the 2026 matchup.
This year’s race was a rematch of 2022, when Kotek narrowly defeated Drazan to win her first term.
The race centered on local issues in Oregon, including affordability and the rising homelessness, but Kotek tried to tie Drazan to President Trump given the president’s unpopularity in a state he lost by more than 14 points in 2024.
Drazan, a former statehouse leader, tried to blame the state’s economic and homelessness problems on Kotek and the Democratic majority in the statehouse.
The state was rocked by a school shooting in Bend in October. A 16-year-old gunman shot and killed three students and a teacher before an armed bystander shot and killed him. Both Drazan and Kotek spent time in Bend after the shooting, and Kotek declared an emergency to help bring aid to the area.
