Tina Kotek projected to win Oregon governor’s race after close rematch

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has won another term, CBS News projects, emerging from a closer than expected contest against Christine Drazan. The Democratic incumbent’s victory keeps the governorship in her party’s hands in a state that has not elected a Republican governor since 1982.

The campaign became one of the country’s tightest reelection fights for a sitting Democratic governor, despite a national political environment that generally favored Democrats. Oregon’s reliably Democratic voting record did not spare Kotek a difficult race as she sought a second term following her first election in 2022.

Public frustration with conditions in Oregon weighed on the incumbent. The state has struggled with a large homeless population, and many residents believe it is headed in the wrong direction. A September survey by DHM Research found that 59% of Oregonians disapproved of the state’s direction, while 58% disapproved of Kotek, who ranks among the nation’s most unpopular governors.

Kotek also entered the contest without some of the labor support that had helped her win office four years earlier. Major labor unions backed her in 2022, but that support was less extensive this time. Oregon’s largest public education union chose not to endorse a candidate in the 2026 governor’s race.

The matchup gave voters another choice between the candidates who had faced each other in 2022. Kotek narrowly beat Drazan in that election to secure her first term. Their rematch again proved competitive, with affordability and growing homelessness among the central issues confronting the candidates throughout the campaign.

Drazan, a former statehouse leader, sought to hold Kotek and the Democratic majority in the statehouse responsible for Oregon’s economic difficulties and homelessness problems. Her campaign focused blame on the governor and her party for the conditions residents were experiencing.

Kotek, meanwhile, tried to connect Drazan to President Trump. That approach drew on the president’s unpopularity in Oregon, where he lost by more than 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, even as local concerns remained central to the gubernatorial contest.

The state also endured a shooting in which a 16-year-old gunman killed three students and a teacher before an armed bystander killed him. Both candidates spent time in Bend afterward. Kotek declared an emergency to help bring assistance to the area.