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Kent van der Kamp recall, Deschutes County, Oregon (2025)
| Kent van der Kamp recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws Sheriff recalls Recall reports |
A recall attempt against Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp ended with his resignation on July 31, 2025.[1]
Recall supporters
Recall organizers submitted the following press release in support of Van der Kamp's recall:[2]
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A recall of Kent van der Kamp as Sheriff is in formation. We are community members who believe voters should have an opportunity to recall Kent van der Kamp as Sheriff on the grounds of dishonesty, abuse of authority, and misconduct. Community members are organizing to recall Kent van der Kamp as Sheriff because Kent van der Kamp has ignored calls to resign immediately from the Deschutes County Sheriffs Employee Association, elected leaders, former campaign supporters, and community members. When asked, van der Kamp gives wide ranging dates for his "retirement," and various excuses for staying in office. The volunteer committee launching the recall effort has a website: www.RecallKentvanderKamp.com. The recall website lists many of the calls for Kent van der Kamp’s, official reports and memos from the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office, Oregon State Sheriff’s Association, and DPSST, and media coverage of events that led community members to form the recall effort. “Until Kent van der Kamp is officially out of the office of Deschutes County Sheriff, on his own accord or official process, the recall effort will move forward. Voters elected Kent van der Kamp, voters can remove him from the office of Sheriff through a recall election.” The recall of Kent van der Kamp is in formation and will formally file on Monday, July 7 with the Deschutes County Clerk. Over the next two weeks we will be organizing volunteers and establishing signature gathering processes. Our goal is to collect 20,000 in less than 90 days, exceeding the minimum number required to qualify for the ballot. “A recall election is the failsafe to remove Kent van der Kamp as Sheriff, if he isn’t removed by other means before election day.” [3] |
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Recall opponents
As of July 9, 2025, Ballotpedia had not identified a response from Van der Kamp.
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon
No specific grounds are required for recall in Oregon. To get the recall on the ballot, supporters must collect signatures equal to 15% of the votes cast in the last regular gubernatorial election in the relevant jurisdiction. Signatures must be collected within 90 days.[4]
Recalll context
- See also: Ballotpedia's Recall Report
Ballotpedia covers recall efforts across the country for all state and local elected offices. A recall effort is considered official if the petitioning party has filed an official form, such as a notice of intent to recall, with the relevant election agency.
The chart below shows how many officials were included in recall efforts from 2012 to 2024 as well as how many of them defeated recall elections to stay in office and how many were removed from office in recall elections.
See also
- Ballotpedia's Recall Report
- Deschutes County, Oregon
- Recall campaigns in Oregon
- Political recall efforts, 2025
- Sheriff recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ KTVZ21, "Sheriff Kent van der Kamp announces resignation minutes after recall efforts were made public," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Recall Kent van der Kamp, "Press release," accessed July 9, 2025
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Recall Manual," accessed October 17, 2023
