Oregon Treasurer election, 2016
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|
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May 17, 2016 |
November 8, 2016 |
Tobias Read (D) |
Ted Wheeler (D) |
Governor • Attorney General Secretary of State • Treasurer Down Ballot None |
March 8, 2016 |
May 17, 2016 |
August 30, 2016 |
November 8, 2016 |
December 13, 2016 |
TBD |
Oregon held an election for state treasurer on November 8, 2016. The primary was held on May 17. Incumbent Ted Wheeler (D) was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. Tobias Read (D) won the open election, keeping the seat in Democratic hands.
Overview
The treasurer acts as the state's chief financial officer and official banker and is responsible for managing the state's money. Democrats have held the treasurer's seat since 1992. Oregon was under Democratic trifecta control.
State House Speaker Pro Tempore Tobias Read (D), Lake Oswego City Councilor Jeff Gudman (R), and Lottery Commissioner Chris Telfer (Independent Party of Oregon) were unopposed for their parties' nominations. The three competed alongside Chris Henry (Pacific Green/Progressive Party) in the November 8 general election. Read had a commanding fundraising lead and had earned several key endorsements as of the May 17 primary elections.
Despite the open election, Democrats' dominance over this office made an an uphill battle for Republicans to win the seat in 2016. Indeed, Read won the general election on November 8, 2016.
Candidates
Tobias Read (D)
State rep. since 2007, House speaker pro tempore
Jeff Gudman (R)
Lake Oswego City Councilor, investor
Chris Telfer (IPO)
Oregon Lottery Commissioner since 2013
Chris Henry (Pacific Green/Progressive)
Union truck driver, aircraft mechanic
Results
General election
Tobias Read defeated Jeff Gudman, Chris Telfer, and Chris Henry in the Oregon treasurer election.[1]
| Oregon Treasurer, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Tobias Read |
43.97% | 808,998 | |
| Republican | Jeff Gudman | 41.67% | 766,680 | |
| Independent Party of Oregon | Chris Telfer | 9.45% | 173,878 | |
| Pacific Green Party of Oregon | Chris Henry | 4.92% | 90,507 | |
| Total Votes | 1,840,063 | |||
| Source: Oregon Secretary of State | ||||
Primary results
Democratic primary contest
Tobias Read ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for treasurer.
| Democratic primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Tobias Read (unopposed) |
98.46% | 333,653 |
| Write-in votes | 1.54% | 5,219 |
| Total Votes | 338,872 | |
| Source: [1] | ||
Republican primary contest
Jeff Gudman ran unopposed in the Republican primary for treasurer.
| Republican primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Jeff Gudman (unopposed) |
98.59% | 217,445 |
| Write-in votes | 1.41% | 3,112 |
| Total Votes | 220,557 | |
| Source: [2] | ||
Independent Party of Oregon primary contest
Chris Telfer ran unopposed in the Independent Party of Oregon primary for treasurer.
| Independent Party of Oregon primary for treasurer, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Chris Telfer (unopposed) |
81.05% | 17,478 |
| Write-in votes | 18.95% | 4,087 |
| Total Votes | 21,565 | |
| Source: [3] | ||
Context of the 2016 election
- Incumbent Ted Wheeler (D) is term-limited and cannot seek re-election; Democrats are expected to retain control of the treasurer's seat.
Primary elections
A primary election is an election in which voters select the candidate they believe should represent a political party in a general election. Primaries usually take place several months before a general election. Oregon generally utilizes a closed primary process. The selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members for presidential and legislative elections. However, the Oregon Republican Party voted to open the Republican primary to unaffiliated voters for the offices of secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer.[2][3][4]
Oregon's primary elections took place on May 17, 2016.
Incumbent Ted Wheeler (D)
Incumbent Treasurer Ted Wheeler (D) was first appointed to the position in March 2010 on an interim basis to replace previous Treasurer Ben Westlund; Westlund died of cancer while of cancer while in office. Wheeler won a special election in November 2010 to serve the remainder of Westlund's term and won re-election to a full term in 2012. Due to term limits, Wheeler was not eligible to run for election to another full term.
Prior to his tenure as treasurer, Wheeler worked as a senior manager in the financial services industry with Bank of American and Copper Mountain Trust. In 2006, he was elected chief executive of Multonomah County.
Party control in Oregon
Oregon is traditionally a Democratic state, and going into the 2016 elections, Democrats had trifecta control of the state government. The last Republican to occupy the governor's office was Victor Atiyeh, who served two terms from 1979 to 1987.[5] Other statewide elected offices—including state treasurer, secretary of state, attorney general, and the two U.S. Senate seats—had all been occupied by Democrats for the previous 15 years. The last Republican to win a statewide election was former United States Senator Gordon Smith, who lost his 2008 re-election bid to Jeff Merkley after serving two terms in office.[6]
The office of treasurer of Oregon had tended to change party hands every 15 to 20 years for the last 50 years. Democrats had held the office since Jim Hill (D) won election in 1992 and had continued to win elections by a comfortable margin since.[7]
Despite the open election, Democrats' dominance over this office make it an uphill battle for Republicans to win the seat in 2016.
Campaigns
- Democrat Tobias Read has a commanding fundraising lead and has earned several key endorsements.
Campaign finance
| Click [show] to view full campaign finance reports for this race. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Endorsements
| Key endorsements | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tobias Read (D) | Jeff Gudman (R) | ||||||||
| Oregon AFL-CIO | Kent Studebaker, Mayor of Lake Oswego | ||||||||
| Oregon Education Association | Andy Duyk, Washington County Chair | ||||||||
| House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson (D) | John Cook, Mayor of Tigard | ||||||||
| Former Governor Barbara Roberts (D) | Dan Holladay, Mayor of Oregon City | ||||||||
| U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D) | |||||||||
| Speaker of the House Tina Kotek (D) | |||||||||
| NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon PAC | |||||||||
| United Food & Commercial Workers International Union | |||||||||
| What is a key endorsement? | |||||||||
Campaign media
Note: If a candidate is not listed below, Ballotpedia staff were unable to locate any campaign media for that candidate. Do you know of any? Tell us!
Democrats
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Republicans
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Third-party candidates
| Chris Telfer (IPO) |    
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| Chris Henry (Pacific Green/Progressive) |
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About the office
Main article: Oregon Treasurer
The treasurer of the State of Oregon is an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of the Oregon state government. The treasurer is the state's chief financial officer and official banker and is responsible for managing the state's money.
Incumbent
The incumbent was Democrat Ted Wheeler. He was first appointed to the position on March 11, 2010, to the unexpired term of former treasurer Ben Westlund, and was officially elected to a two-year partial term on November 2, 2010.[8][9] He won re-election in 2012.
Authority
The office of Oregon treasurer is established in Article VI, Section 1 of the Oregon Constitution.
Article VI, Section 1:
| There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State, at the times and places of choosing Members of the Legislative Assembly, a Secretary, and Treasurer of State, who shall severally hold their offices for the term of four years; but no person shall be eligible to either of said offices more than Eight in any period of Twelve years. |
Past elections
2012
Incumbent Ted Wheeler (D) defeated Tom Cox (R) and three third party challengers to win re-election on November 6, 2012.
- 2012 General Election Results for Oregon Treasurer
| Oregon Treasurer General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Ted Wheeler Incumbent |
57.9% | 955,213 | |
| Republican | Tom Cox | 37% | 609,989 | |
| Progressive | Cameron Whitten | 2.4% | 38,762 | |
| Libertarian | John Mahler | 1.8% | 30,002 | |
| Constitution | Michael Paul Marsh | 0.9% | 15,415 | |
| Total Votes | 1,649,381 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State | ||||
2010
On November 2, 2010, Ted Wheeler won re-election to the office of Oregon Treasurer. He defeated Chris Telfer (R), Walter F. (Walt) Brown (P) and Michael Marsh (C) in the general election.
| Oregon Treasurer, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Ted Wheeler Incumbent |
52.9% | 721,795 | |
| Republican | Chris Telfer | 41.9% | 571,105 | |
| Progressive | Walter F. (Walt) Brown | 2.8% | 38,316 | |
| Constitution | Michael Marsh | 2.2% | 30,489 | |
| Misc. | Various | 0.1% | 1,738 | |
| Total Votes | 1,363,443 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State. | ||||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Ben Westlund won election to the office of Oregon Treasurer. He defeated Allen Alley (R) and Michael Marsh (C) in the general election.
| Oregon Treasurer, 2008 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Ben Westlund |
51.1% | 847,590 | |
| Republican | Allen Alley | 45.3% | 750,484 | |
| Constitution | Michael Marsh | 3.4% | 56,581 | |
| Misc. | Various | 0.2% | 3,529 | |
| Total Votes | 1,658,184 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State. | ||||
2004
On November 2, 2004, Randall Edwards won re-election to the office of Oregon Treasurer. He defeated Jeff Caton (R), Mitch Shults (L) and Carole D. Winegarden (C) in the general election.
| Oregon Treasurer, 2004 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Randall Edwards Incumbent |
52.9% | 889,974 | |
| Republican | Jeff Caton | 40.9% | 688,551 | |
| Libertarian | Mitch Shults | 3.1% | 52,819 | |
| Constitution | Carole D. Winegarden | 3% | 49,875 | |
| Misc. | Various | 0.1% | 2,284 | |
| Total Votes | 1,683,503 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State. | ||||
2000
On November 7, 2000, Randall Edwards won election to the office of Oregon Treasurer. He defeated Jon Kvistad (R), Mitchell T. Shults (L), Leonard Zack (Ref) and Carlos F. Lucero (C) in the general election.
| Oregon Treasurer, 2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Randall Edwards |
50.2% | 705,273 | |
| Republican | Jon Kvistad | 42.3% | 593,411 | |
| Libertarian | Mitchell T. Shults | 3.9% | 54,091 | |
| Reform | Leonard Zack | 2.1% | 29,329 | |
| Constitution | Carlos F. Lucero | 1.4% | 19,707 | |
| Misc. | Various | 0.1% | 1,796 | |
| Total Votes | 1,403,607 | |||
| Election results via Oregon Secretary of State. | ||||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Oregon treasurer election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
State profile
| Demographic data for Oregon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Oregon | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 4,024,634 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 95,988 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White: | 85.1% | 73.6% |
| Black/African American: | 1.8% | 12.6% |
| Asian: | 4% | 5.1% |
| Native American: | 1.2% | 0.8% |
| Pacific Islander: | 0.4% | 0.2% |
| Two or more: | 4.1% | 3% |
| Hispanic/Latino: | 12.3% | 17.1% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate: | 89.8% | 86.7% |
| College graduation rate: | 30.8% | 29.8% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income: | $51,243 | $53,889 |
| Persons below poverty level: | 18.4% | 11.3% |
| Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Oregon. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Presidential voting pattern
- See also: Presidential voting trends in Oregon
Oregon voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.
Pivot Counties (2016)
Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, two are located in Oregon, accounting for 0.97 percent of the total pivot counties.[10]
Pivot Counties (2020)
In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Oregon had two Retained Pivot Counties, 1.10 of all Retained Pivot Counties.
More Oregon coverage on Ballotpedia
- Elections in Oregon
- United States congressional delegations from Oregon
- Public policy in Oregon
- Endorsers in Oregon
- Oregon fact checks
- More...
See also
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Oregon government: |
Previous elections: |
Ballotpedia exclusives: |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016, General Election Abstract of Votes," accessed May 25, 2017
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures Website, "State Primary Election Types," accessed January 6, 2014
- ↑ Fair Vote, "Congressional and Presidential Primaries: Open, Closed, Semi-Closed, and 'Top Two,'" accessed January 6, 2014
- ↑ Ballotpedia research conducted December 26, 2013, through January 3, 2014, researching and analyzing various state websites and codes.
- ↑ Oregon Historical Society, "Governor Victor Atiyeh," accessed August 27, 2015
- ↑ The New York Times, "2008 Election results: Oregon," accessed August 27, 2015
- ↑ Oregon State Treasury, "Administrative Overview and Program Descriptions, May 2005," accessed May 9, 2016
- ↑ ost.state.OR.us, "Oregon State Treasury: Ted Wheeler, State Treasurer," accessed September 20, 2011
- ↑ ost.state.OR.us, "Oregon State Treasury: Ted Wheeler, State Treasurer," accessed September 20, 2011
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
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