By Julia Shumway | Editor
Fall foliage at Minto-Brown Island Park. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Happy Saturday!
It’s hard to believe, but Election Day is officially one month away.
The governor’s race at the top of the ticket is drawing the most attention, with another new poll showing incumbent Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican challenger and state Sen. Christine Drazan deadlocked. The Cook Political Report, which rates the competitiveness of races, has Oregon in the same “lean Democrat” category as Iowa, Michigan and Arizona, all states that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. Oregon hasn’t had a Republican governor in 40 years and Kotek maintains a strong fundraising advantage over Drazan, but polling has Democrats spooked and Republicans optimistic about a silver lining in a year that looks like an overwhelming blue wave elsewhere.
The two met for their first debate in Eugene on Thursday, and Shaanth Nanguneri was there for the fireworks. Shaanth followed up Friday with some fact-checking, finding that Drazan was wrong that Oregon doesn’t offer an alternative to mail voting (anyone can request to vote in person at their county election office), Kotek stretched the truth when accusing Drazan of voting against a low-income tax break when it was part of a larger bill that raised some taxes and that the two talked past each other on the National Guard in Portland.
Mia Maldonado reported that the Phil Knight-funded Bring Balance to Salem PAC is using a canvassing firm tied to Elon Musk to pay doorknockers for seven Republicans in competitive legislative districts. Mia also profiled the 7th House District, a competitive open seat in Springfield. Keep an eye out for more race coverage over the next two weeks.
Mia also spent some time with CBD farmers and store owners in the Willamette Valley to talk about the impacts of a new federal law that limits the concentration of THC in hemp-derived products. Hemp-based products are typically higher in CBD and lower in THC than products made from cannabis, and they took off in popularity after Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, passed a 2018 law legalizing cultivating hemp with a THC concentration of 0.3% or less.
Alex Baumhardt has news on proposed data centers on federal land out West, including one in Umatilla County, and reports that Republicans and Democrats are coming together to talk behind closed doors about Oregon passing a new cap-and-invest law and joining a West Coast carbon market. Seven years ago, after the Legislature held open hearings and meetings about a cap-and-invest law, Republicans fled the Capitol to prevent a vote on such a policy.
And Mia reported on the results of a transportation survey that found that Oregonians generally value maintaining existing roads and bridges and improving safety.
One final note before our Saturday story from InvestigateWest: The Capital Chronicle turns 5 on Monday! Our little start-up newsroom is almost old enough for kindergarten, and we’re grateful for all the readers like you who have shown support through financial donations, by sharing our stories with your friends, family or social media followers and by letting reporters know when you’ve enjoyed their work. We’re looking forward to many more years to come.
YOUR SATURDAY STORY
By Kaylee Tornay | InvestigateWest
Michelle Caswell still recalls the nights when her boss prayed beside her bed, kneeling so close she could feel his warm breath on her face and she worried he’d try to kiss her.
Caswell was 31, working and living at 5Rock Ranch, a Christian ministry that promises refuge and spiritual guidance for single mothers, “the fatherless and the floundering.” Fresh out of drug rehab, she was hired as the women’s ministry director, but her boss, Michael “Scott” Bradley, quickly urged her to think of him as her father, she says. Caswell recalls how Scott claimed that she had stopped maturing at a young age due to multiple personality disorder, and that as her father, it was appropriate for her to sit on his lap, and for him to kiss her on the cheek and pray at her bedside each morning and night.
It’s been 15 years since Caswell left 5Rock Ranch in 2011. When she thinks back on those nights, it’s with a mixture of disgust, anger, and compassion for that young woman trying to fall asleep. How did she ever get used to that?
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