Oregon Republican nominee for governor Christine Drazan, in pink, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, in red, campaign together at a wedding venue in Aurora, Oregon in 2022. A new poll suggested that candidates could face an uphill battle in the Oregon 2026 governor's race based on their positions involving Trump and the Republican Party. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Portland and cuts to food stamps and health insurance his party passed this summer could hamper the popularity of Republican candidates in Oregon’s 2026 race for governor, according to a new survey from a Democratic polling firm.
The survey, released this week by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling and paid for by the Democratic Governors Association, offers the clearest picture yet of the Oregon electorate since the president began his efforts to deploy the National Guard to Portland after calling the city a “war zone.” Six in 10 respondents said they opposed Trump sending the troops to Portland, while 38% reported favoring the move. Independents opposed the decision by 57% percent while 39% reported support.
More broadly, researchers found 61% of respondents prefer a candidate who will challenge Trump’s policies, while 34% said they were in favor of someone who will implement them. That could suggest an uphill journey to the governor’s mansion for the two Republicans vying for their party’s nomination: State Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, and Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell.
Traditional political wisdom suggests that the Oregon governor’s race would be difficult for a Republican candidate in a midterm cycle under an unpopular Republican president who has full party control of Congress. Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won their Nov. 4 elections in Virginia and New Jersey by margins greater than 10 percentage points despite polling suggesting that their leads were narrowing heading into Election Day.
“This poll is devastating news for Christine Drazan, who is desperately trying to avoid the fact that she is directly tied to Donald Trump’s deeply unpopular agenda,” Johanna Warshaw, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Association, said in a statement. “Drazan’s refusal to stand up to Trump’s attacks on Oregon, including slashing health care, rolling back abortion rights and deploying the National Guard to Oregon streets, is toxic for Oregon voters – and that’s why they will reject her once again next year.”
Oregon’s 2026 governor race has drawn particular attention partly because of how close a Republican came to winning in 2022. Then-state Rep. Drazan lost to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek by more than 3 percentage points, with nonaffiliated challenger Betsy Johnson, a former conservative Democratic state senator, winning 8.6% of the vote.
Neither Bethell nor Drazan have overtly criticized the president’s response in Portland. Another rumored Republican candidate, the ex-Portland Trail Blazer Chris Dudley, told the Oregon Journalism Project in a Nov. 4 interview that “I’m not going to bow down to any man, and I’m not going to ask anybody to bow down to me.” He narrowly lost to Democrat John Kitzhaber in Oregon’s 2010 general election for governor.
Much of the controversy around the deployment of the National Guard has been the subject of ongoing legal battles in federal court. Kotek, state leaders and local authorities in Portland have routinely stressed that activity at Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility has largely consisted of small crowds and protests that are manageable by the Portland Police Bureau.
Drazan, on the other hand, has walked a careful line when it comes to the actions of Trump, particularly his use of the National Guard. She did not mention the president when announcing her bid in Portland on Oct. 27, telling KATU-TV hours later that “as long as the chief of police and the mayor do their job, that is not an extraordinary measure that would need to be undertaken.” Those remarks came weeks after she swiftly echoed Trump’s claims of domestic terror and unabated violence in Portland without taking a position on the deployment.
Drazan also previously expressed support for the food assistance eligibility reviews and error rate regulations under the GOP’s tax and spending law, policies which state benefit workers say may make it harder to accurately administer benefits.
Bethell, meanwhile, told the Capital Chronicle that “we all know that Portland has not been governed well for several years” while slamming Oregon’s leaders for “playing politics with our federal government.”
“I think it’s interesting that the president of the United States has to even concern himself with the safety and well-being of Oregon residents,” she wrote in a late October statement.
State campaign finance records as of Wednesday show Drazan’s campaign has more than $750,000 in the bank and Bethell has more than $55,000. That’s significantly less than Kotek’s reported $1.5 million, though the governor has yet to formally announce her campaign.
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