Opinion

Elections Are Opportunities for Reflection

As the last election ballots finally find their way into the count, we are struck by what a varied and unpredictable campaign season we have just experienced. If anyone tells you they knew how this latest election would play out, they’re either a political savant or they’re lying.

There was no red wave; nor was there a blue wave anywhere except in small pockets of local politics, like here in Bend. Nationally, the Senate seems poised to remain in Democrats’ control. The House looks likely to bend Republican. In Oregon, Republican challenger Christine Drazan came within about 2.5 percentage points of beating Tina Kotek and taking the Oregon governor’s mansion, in what is understood to be a repudiation against the pandemic-era policies of Kate Brown. In the Oregon House 53 race—a district whose boundaries moved farther into Bend during redistricting—Democrat Emerson Levy looks to win the seat that has been held by a Republican all of the 21st Century.

In Deschutes County, where registered Democrats (48,388 voters) outnumber Republicans (45,090 voters) and non-affiliated voters (51,552) outnumber each of them, Republican incumbents Patti Adair and Tony DeBone of the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners won their re-election bids against two progressive challengers. And that’s all amid another outcome: that voters in Deschutes County also overwhelmingly—at 61.06% at last count—approved a measure making county races nonpartisan in the future.

But we can’t call it a “red wave” in the County either. In spite of the county commissioner outcomes, even Redmond is trending blue… or at least an azure-trending color of purple. The city’s elections are nonpartisan, but the outgoing mayor’s hand-picked candidate, Ben Schimmoller, along with sitting councilor Jay Patrick lost out to another sitting councilor, the most progressive viable candidate on the roster, Ed Fitch. The Redmond City Council is going to see a massive change, too, with the addition of Kathryn Osborne and John Nielsen, along with Cat Zwicker, who was appointed to the council previously and now has won voters’ approval. When we interviewed the slate of candidates for this council, we were fairly stunned to imagine how this new slate of civility minded, committed individuals would see Redmond into its new future. And city leaders there will certainly have things to ponder, with Redmond voters’ approval of funds to build a new rec center but disapproval of the levy that would run it.

After 2020’s blue wave on the Bend City Council, there was a great deal of chatter on social media channels about removing the current council and busting up the makeup of votes on the council, which often votes 7-0. However, based on the outcome of the election, it is clear voters don’t adhere to social media chatter and it did not signal a sea change. Progressive mayoral candidate (and sitting councilor) Melanie Kebler bested her more conservative challenger, Chris Piper, by a wide margin. Infill and active transportation candidates for the City Council also won the day, with Barb Campbell, Ariel Méndez and Mike Riley all winning in these nonpartisan races. Mostly all of the candidates who ran for the City Council talked about housing, but the ones who won were surprisingly not those backed by large sums of real-estate PAC money. Those who won are advocates of building more densely with more multi-family and mixed housing types; those who lost tended to favor reducing regulations, expanding the urban growth boundary and focusing on single-family homes. In spite of outraising their opponents, the PAC-backed candidates lost.

Perhaps the most puzzling—and frustrating—outcome came in the Oregon Congressional District 5 race, the newly drawn district that now includes most of Bend and extends all the way into the Portland area. The winner, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, mounted a massive attack-ad campaign against what we see as one of the most genuine and truly committed candidates this cycle, Democrat and Working Families candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner. When she earned our endorsement, McLeod-Skinner took the time to stop by and thank us. Chavez-DeRemer never showed up for an endorsement interview at all. If there have been surprises in this election cycle, this is perhaps the biggest.

It is this type of election cycle that is humbling and yet provides the clarity to realize that communities are made up of swirling shades of red, blue and purple. To understand how a dynamic community like ours is changing, it’s important to step away from the polls, the social media chatter and even the newspaper endorsements and truly connect with the diversity of views and values that we enjoy here. There is no better time, as tempers subside and races are resolved, to engage in wide ranging conversations in this place we all call home.