Christine Drazan, the Republican state lawmaker from Canby who lost in the most recent governor’s race to Democrat Tina Kotek, will again run for the state’s top office in 2026.
Drazan officially announced her run at 11 a.m. Monday to a crowd of more than 100 workers, Republican lawmakers, family members and news organizations at a Portland ship manufacturing facility.
“Your livelihoods matter — you deserve a governor who knows that,” Drazan told the crowd. “You deserve a governor who will stand up for you and fight for your family’s future. Somewhere along the way, Oregon’s leaders have lost those values. They have started governing for headlines, not results.”
With her legislative experience and political connections, Drazan is likely to emerge next year as the frontrunner in the Republican Party to challenge Kotek, who has been raising money but has not officially announced her plans. Leading up to the 2022 election, Drazan received $22.6 million in contributions, while Kotek raised $30.1 million.
If a Drazan-Kotek rematch materializes, there will be one key difference from 2022: independent candidate Betsy Johnson, a former Democratic lawmaker who appealed to independents and some Democrats, won’t be in the mix.
One other well-connected Republican, Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell, has announced she will seek her party’s nomination for governor in 2026. Bethell has raised $107,500 this year, campaign finance filings show.
Drazan will face an uphill battle in fighting for a statewide position in Oregon, a reliably blue state that has not elected a Republican as governor since 1982 or any Republican to statewide office since 2016.
Drazan is expected to focus much of her campaign on Kotek’s lack of tangible progress on the state’s largest crises of lack of housing and homelessness, subpar public education and inadequate mental health services.
Monday’s kickoff event included no shortage of fanfare. Following an introduction by Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, an Albany Republican, Drazan entered the expansive shipbuilding facility and shook the hands of dozens of workers before taking the stage to announce her run.
During her 18 minute speech, Drazan harshly criticized Democrats, saying they have made Oregon a tax heavy, over regulated state that is pushing young people and businesses out.
She also hit hard on Oregon’s approach to drug use and treatment, saying it has allowed residents to slip through the cracks. She wants to ramp up drug enforcement, she said.
“For too long, programs designed to reduce harm have too often stolen hope,” Drazan said to the crowd, which included three Republican lawmakers. “For too long, our state has abandoned accountability to advance an agenda. For too long, aimlessness has replaced an addition for the common good.”
A former legislative aide, Drazan was first elected to a House seat in 2018. She quickly became known for her aggressive political tactics, successfully challenging the former House Republican leader just months into her first term.
Drazan ultimately lost the 2022 race to Kotek by 3 percentage points, with Johnson proving less of a factor than many expected, capturing just 9% of the statewide vote.
Drazan then left state politics to found a nonprofit, A New Direction, to advocate for what she characterized as centrist policy priorities. She reentered the Legislature this year after cruising to a victory in last year’s primary contest over an incumbent Republican lawmaker.
After Drazan won election to return to the Legislature, she appeared to immediately position herself for a second gubernatorial run. Just days after winning election, she successfully challenged the former House Republican leader, a respected moderate Republican, for his position.
For much of this year’s five-month legislative session, Drazan berated Democrats for including tax increases in a major transportation package, and she played a key role in preventing Democrats from getting any proposal across the line during this year’s regular session. After months of political theater and missteps, Democrats passed a plan last month with lower tax raises than they initially proposed.
Last Thursday, Drazan was appointed to fill an empty state Senate seat as she hinted she might again run for governor in 2026.
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