Independent Party of Oregon releases 2014 Primary results

Independent Party of Oregon

SALEM – 7/21/2014 – Republicans ran the table in this year’s Independent Party of Oregon Primary Election, winning 8 races that were contested between Republican and Democratic candidates, including the Oregon Governor’s race.  This result reversed the trend of 2 years ago, when Democratic candidates won most of the contested races on the IPO ballot. 

“As a group, the Republicans appeared to invest more time and resources into this election than did the Democrats.  Oregon Right to Life sent out mailers in several districts, and the candidates themselves appeared to be working harder on outreach,” said Party Secretary, Sal Peralta. 

“This nomination could be a double-edged sword for some of our Republican candidates, since several of the policy goals prioritized by our members such as campaign finance disclosure, contribution limits, and ensuring that tax credits given for economic development return more benefit to the public than they cost, are issues that Republican leaders have opposed at the national level.” 

1712 members prepared ballots and participated in the IPO survey, and 1140 members returned ballots this year, an increase 525 votes relative to 2 years ago.

Participation Rates:

GOVERNOR
Dennis Richardson       677
John Kitzhaber              413

US SENATE
Jeff Merkley                   652

US CONGRESS CD 3
James Buchal                 25*

DISTRICT 10
David Gomberg                6

DISTRICT 22
Matt Geiger                     11

DISTRICT 23
Alex Polikoff                     6
Beth Jones                    27

DISTRICT 24
Ken Moore                     10

DISTRICT 25
Chuck Lee                     17

DISTRICT 26
John Davis                    10

DISTRICT 30*
Dan Mason                  TBD
Kyle Markley                TBD
Joe Gallegos               TBD

DISTRICT 39
Bill Kennemer              23

DISTRICT 46
Alissa Keny-Guyer        9

DISTRICT 51
Jodi Bailey                 19
Shemia Fagan          15

DISTRICT 52
Mark Johnson            38
Stephanie Nystrom   10

DISTRICT 54
Knute Buehler           27
Craig Wilhelm           14

DISTRICT 3
Dave Dotterer           57
Alan Bates                52

DISTRICT 10
Jackie Winters         19

DISTRICT 13
Kim Thatcher          25
Ryan Howard          13

DISTRICT 15
Bruce Starr            TBD
Chuck Riley            TBD

DISTRICT 16
Drew Kaza             13

DISTRICT 17
Elizabeth Hayward       12

DISTRICT 20
Alan Olsen              27
Jamie Damon        23

DISTRICT 26
Chuck Thomsen     65
Robert Bruce          24

JACKSON COUNTY COMMISSIONER, POS 3

Clay Bearnson       38
Kevin Talbert          58 

Top performing issues among Richardson voters.

Top performing issues among Kitzhaber voters.

OVERALL INDEPENDENTS FAVOR 

• 83.7% – Requiring that political advertisements identify their main sources of funding.
• 79.0% – Increasing vocational training opportunities for students in high school and community college
• 74.4% – Ensuring that tax dollars spent to encourage economic development return more benefits to the public than they cost.
• 73.4% – Establishing limits on political campaign contributions.
• 68.3% – The state should look at ways to make college more affordable.
• 66.5% – Reforming the state primary election so that more voters can participate.
• 63.6% – Protecting farmland and increasing diversity of agricultural products.
• 63.5% – Reducing government spending.
• 53.5% – Requiring labels on food containing genetically modified organisms.
• 51.2% – Providing tax credits to employers that engage in new construction for the purpose of expanding their workforce in Oregon.

About the IPO Election:

The Independent Party member survey and primary election took place from July 7 – 19. The IPO sent an 8 page voters guide to all member households that included candidate biographies and instructions on how to download a ballot online. The primary consisted of a member survey and a vote.

The member survey included all ballots prepared by individual voters, regardless of whether they returned their ballot. The vote only included only signed ballots returned to the IPO via mail, fax, email, or personal delivery.

This release contains the results of our member survey. The results of our election, which involves the processing of physical ballots, will be released on Monday morning.

About the Independent Party:

The Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) is Oregon’s 3rd largest political party with more than 100,000 members. The Party was founded in 2007 after Democrats and Republicans passed legislation that made it harder to run for public office and removed the word “independent” on all ballots and voter registration cards.

The IPO does not adhere to rigid ideology that characterizes many “3rd party” movements in Oregon and America and is not affiliated with any other party on any level (international, national, state). Instead, we recruit candidates from across the political spectrum. Candidates who are not members of the Independent Party are required to agree with the party’s agenda and are expected to champion one or more legislative goals of the party, as determined by the party’s membership.

Errata:

The caucus did not release results for Oregon House District 30 or Senate District 15, due to a glitch on the ballot that resulted in HD 30 Libertarian candidate, Kyle Markley, not being listed for a portion of the election.  Balloting in that race closed at 5 pm on Saturday, but voters were given 3 extra business days to return their ballots.