KATU · on housing production claims in the first Kotek–Drazan debate
Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican challenger Christine Drazan met Thursday night at the University of Oregon in Eugene for the first debate of the 2026 governor's race. Kotek said Oregon's housing starts were up 11.5% comparing the first six months of this year to the same period last year and credited permitting and infrastructure changes; Drazan called Kotek's housing policies "an abysmal failure" and said the state had "almost 10-year record lows in housing production." KATU noted Kotek secured $200 million from lawmakers in 2023 for homelessness and housing.
The election is Nov. 3, 2026; the debate was hosted by KVAL with the Oregon Journalism Project, Lookout Eugene-Springfield and the UO School of Journalism and Communication.
A DHM Research poll of 915 likely voters commissioned by OPB and conducted September 17–27 put Republican Christine Drazan at 47% and Gov. Tina Kotek at 46% after leaners were pushed, with a 3.24% margin of error. Asked the state’s top problem, 52% of respondents named cost of living, housing affordability, high tax rates or the job market; pollster John Horvick said homelessness, crime and drug use had topped voter concerns four years earlier. Kotek drew 54% of tri-county Portland-area voters, down from roughly 61% in 2022.
Polls in late June and early September showed Drazan ahead by 4 and 2 points respectively.
Gov. Tina Kotek released a reelection platform, "Building Oregon's Future Together," organized around affordability, the economy, K-12 schools and defending the state against federal policies. On affordability, she pledged to pursue universal preschool statewide and to continue her effort to increase affordable housing options; OPB reported the plan does not detail how she would pay for those initiatives. The platform lists an increase in new housing starts among her first-term accomplishments, while OPB noted Oregon is on track to build less housing this year than when Kotek took office.
Republican challenger Christine Drazan released her own plan in late August.
A DHM Research poll of 600 likely voters conducted September 11 found Republican Christine Drazan at 45% and Gov. Tina Kotek at 43%, a margin inside the poll's 4% margin of error. Homelessness and housing are among the issues voters named in the race.
Kotek defeated Drazan in the 2022 governor's race; the 2026 election is November 3.
OPB · on the "Drazan Plan" campaign agenda rollout
Republican gubernatorial nominee Christine Drazan held a press conference at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland on August 25 to elaborate on the "Drazan Plan," her agenda if elected governor. On housing, she promised to streamline permitting and make land more available for building; on homelessness, she said she would track how money is spent and demand measurable results, saying success should be measured "by how many people are actually moving off of our streets that are in recovery, in treatment and moving towards long-term stability." Gov. Tina Kotek's campaign called the plan "simply her latest effort to distract Oregonians from her history of being Donald Trump's stand-in."
It has been more than four decades since Oregonians elected a Republican governor; Drazan and Kotek also faced each other in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
Gov. Tina Kotek pointed to an 11.3% increase in Oregon housing permits through June 30, as permitting in the rest of the country declined 1.3%, as evidence the state's housing decline is reversing. Willamette Week reported that permitting reached nearly 18,000 units in Kotek's first year, fell to fewer than 15,000 in each of the past two years, and remains below the 36,000-units-a-year target she set in her 2023 inaugural address, a target since lowered to 29,359 units.