What are the strategies of the Oregon Republican governor candidates? Principled or manipulative? Will a good Public Servant Republican like Dennis Richardson be nominated? The Republican candidate MUST have non-Republican Votes to win. Richardson had over 250,000 of them. TPNW's current analysis/Op-ed before the April 16th ORP debate. What strategies are being employed?

The games people play in the public realm during an election. Observing on social media the supporters of each of the four candidates who will debate on April 16th in Hillsboro, the candidates and their supporters appear most worried about Chris Dudley. 

Do supporters take on the personal characteristics of the candidate they chose and wed? Who are they most worried about in the race? By on-line social media comments it is Chris Dudley. 

Candidate Bethell, she maligned Dudley within an hour of his announcing his run for Oregon governor. 

Diehl supporters are all over social media dumping on all voters not yet deciding who they are supporting. Any criticism of Diehl and a swarming backlash comes out including from some social media podcasters. 

Drazan supporters refuse to do the math and insist Drazan in her loss to Tina Kotek in 2022 was the "closest" and dismiss out of hand that Chris Dudley came closer to a win in 2010. Dudley was winning until two days after the election in 2010 until late Multnomah County ballots appeared and were counted; then Dudley lost by about 22,000. 

As the verbal and emotional kerfuffles have been playing out on social media, Chris Dudley has quietly been meeting with and listening to constituents all over Oregon. Dudley hasn't gotten into the fray on social media or elsewhere. 

What will play out at the debate, what will the candidates do with Chris Dudley at the debate? What strategies have they employed so far? Let's take a look. 

 

Who can take on Tina Kotek and win the race for Oregon governor in 2026? 

Drazan's first palm card dropped in the mail just two days ahead of the debate. Why? Drazan declares she is the "Pro-Life champion". Other than "saying so" what does her record show? 

Drazan sponsored a bill seven years ago in 2019 regarding babies born alive during a procedure to kill such a baby, that they be saved. Then no action found again until 2026 as Drazan made her decision to run for governor again. She put forth a repeat of that bill. 

There is no public record that Drazan made visits to any abortion clinic to investigate the situation, attempted to meet with management of those clinics, nor came to any clinic such as Lovejoy, Planned Parenthood or Lilth to pray with activists who for over eighteen years have done sidewalk counseling weekly. 

Full disclosure, the editor of TPNW comes out of history of having been involved with a small campaign group when she lived in Yakima, Washington. That small group did a Margaret Meade win in five campaigns including county and state offices, flipping the county from one political party to the other political party in two short years. Some very specific decisions about the visuals to use on palm cards were made. We reversed fifty years of political party history in that county. 

Thus, visuals chosen for a palm card can be telling of what is being signaled. Drazan's visuals show a very white baby, not a particularly joyous baby. Perhaps Irish descent baby, although Drazan doesn't share she's Irish. Her family history might be more French. 

Perhaps the strategy was to drop this the day before the debate to try to take Chris Dudley out by claiming he's not pro-life enough? And why only a white baby? Babies of color are over represented in being aborted. Who decided the visual should only be of a white baby?

Drazan, the "Pro-Life" champion, has never visited agencies who are "pro-life", including the ones in Canby where Christine lives. She has not visited nor referenced post-abortion healing programs, regret, PTSD effects on women or shown any direct support of pregnancy resource centers' after-abortion services. 

One pro-life action in 2019 and not another one until 2026. Seven years. Feels manipulative and staged.

 

Concerning for the governor's race or any race to be voted into the Salem legislature begs the question, begs to know why it is that legislators who make the laws don't know the laws? A question going back to 2020 when Drazan was in the legislature with Governor Kate Brown who violated the Oregon Emergency law in shutting down all of Oregon. Until Dallas Heard and Mike Nearman spoke up the whole legislature just followed and obeyed anything Kate Brown directed be done.

 

Thus, we arrive at Ed Diehl and his decisions and actions which include a high five for being part of the campaign that brought in 250,000 signatures for the "No tax on Gas" referendum success. 

 

Then Diehl might have blown it with allowing the legislature to move the vote on it from November to May, 2026. The boxes and the stacks of paper were very theatrical, but constitutionally the legislature has the right to set special elections. Perhaps Diehl and others should have walked with the eight Republicans who did walk.
 

Then instead of switching gears to start a GOTV (Get out the Vote) for the primary, Diehl spent down most of that $94,000.00 war chest, paying attorneys $45,000.00 to take to court lawsuits that were essentially about "policy" not "law". When he lost, the declaration was, the loss was due to a "liberal" judge. That's not what happened. 

 

Diehl's visual promotion postures him as being this amazing warrior. His supporters on social media and those two podcasters rise up with anger at those not supporting Diehl. They tell voters on social media that they are stupid, and they'll "be sorry" if they don't get on board with Diehl. 

Diehl supporters make all kinds of derogatory claims and statements about Chris Dudley, huffing about Dudley, "What has he done for Oregon in sixteen years!" When informed that Dudley promised his wife he wouldn't run again until their children were grown makes no dent in the emotions of those Diehl supporters. A conservative value is family. They also come across as liberal Democrats by complaining that Dudley is a millionaire as though being successful is a bad thing as though he should have been paid only minimum wage as an NBA basketball player. They are against renovating the Moda Center. They see no connection to that being good for business including small businesses, for tourism to return to Portland, Oregon. 

Dudley supports renovating the Moda Center, but had criticisms of some of the details in the bill which Diehl fails to state in his comments. Chris Dudley was not in the Oregon legislature. He had no control over the bill passed. 

How is it that two Oregon state legislators who make the laws cannot read the laws? That is a big on-going mystery since 2020.

 

What will be reveal at the Oregon Republican Party debate on April 16, 2026? TPNW position was that all candidates for governor were required to be invited as ORP cannot endorse during the primary, but only allowing these four is an endorsement. 

Tune in and find out what unfolds on debate night.

 

April 15, 2026