Capital Chronicle poised to roll out primary election coverage

Oregon’s primary election season is well under way, and there is a lot at stake.

Voters will choose among candidates in three statewide offices – secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer – and pick six U.S. representatives to represent the state in the sharply divided U.S. House. All 60 seats in the state House are also on the ballot, and half of the 30-member state Senate will be up for a vote.

Plus, there are a lot of local elections. Multnomah County voters, for example, will vote in four commission races while four Salem City Councilor seats are on the ballot there. A slew of counties will have tax and bond measures on the ballot – for example, voters in Baker and Washington counties each will be asked about five – and in some jurisdictions, voters will cast ballots on new or amended city charters.

There’s also the presidential primary, though the rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump has pretty much already been decided.

All that is a lot to cover, and we’re a small crew with three full-time reporters. That means we’ve had to be strategic about the profiles we do. Our mission is to cover statewide politics, so we’re focusing on the statewide races, Congress and the state Legislature. 

We’ve also winnowed the stories further. We’re only reporting on competitive races, which is why we won’t be writing about Congressional District 2, which has a majority of Republican voters and where incumbent Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz is favored to win. We also won’t be covering the race for Congressional District 1: The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, who was first elected to the position in a 2012 special election, is also the favorite.

But we will have profiles or questionnaire answers and sometimes both in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th congressional districts. We are using the questionnaires to supplement our coverage in some races, but in cases where we’re profiling all the candidates – the 4th Congressional District is one – we didn’t send out any questionnaires. 

Oregonians won’t vote on governor this time: Gov. Tina Kotek has two more years in her term. But three other statewide offices are open this year. The current treasurer, Tobias Read, is term-limited and running for secretary of state. LaVonne Griffin-Valade, who Kotek appointed secretary of state last June after Shemia Fagan stepped down in a scandal, isn’t running, and Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is retiring. 

We’ll have profiles of the candidates in those races with questionnaires in the attorney general and secretary of state races. We did not send out questionnaires in the treasurer race because there is only one Republican candidate and we’re profiling the Democrats.

We’re also covering some legislative races. Democrats are not expected to lose control of the state Senate but we’re still covering four competitive Republican primary races: Senate districts 1, 2, 28 and 29. 

Democrats currently have 35 seats in the House, and 25 are represented by Republicans. Though the Democrats aren’t likely to lose control there, either, they are hoping to pick up seats. .

We’ll have a primary election page, 2024 Primary Election, where stories will land so you can catch up on any you’ve missed.

We hope you find our coverage interesting – and most of all we hope you vote. April 30 is the last day to register or change party affiliation for the primary.