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Tina Kotek recall, Governor of Oregon (2025)
| Tina Kotek recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2025 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws State executive recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Oregon Governor Tina Kotek (D) began on July 28, 2025. Supporters of the recall have 90 days—or no later than October 27, 2025—to collect 292,933 signatures to require a recall election.[1]
Proponents of the recall effort criticize Governor Kotek for supporting policies they believe give preference to undocumented immigrants over veterans, low-income families, and law-abiding citizens. The recall effort also argues that Kotek's failure to comply with presidential executive orders and mandates has resulted in the loss of federal funding for the state.[2]
Governor Kotek was elected as Oregon's governor in 2022 with 47% of the vote.
Recall supporters
William Minnix launched the recall effort on July 28, 2025. He is affiliated with a group called Oregon for the People. The recall petition lists the following reasons for recall:[3]
| “ |
To the best of my knowledge, Governor Tina Kotek has violated her Oath of Office. She has failed in her leadership responsibilities by supporting policies that prioritize the support of illegal immigrants, over law-abiding Oregonians, including veteran, low-income families, elders and victims of crime. In addition, she has failed to abide by Presidential Executive Orders and mandates, eliminating federal funding. In doing so she continues to unfairly attempt to over tax Oregonians to make up for lost federal funding. Therefore, as a legal resident of Oregon and a disabled veteran, I initiate this recall in the name of restoring lawful state governance, public safety and trust, and constitutional accountability.[4] |
” |
Recall opponents
Kotek’s campaign advisor, Thomas Wheatley, issued the following response to the recall effort:[5]
| “ |
The Governor is committed to addressing Oregon’s most pressing issues — increasing affordable housing, expanding mental health care access, improving education, and ensuring we can fairly compensate the workers who operate snowplows in winter and maintain road safety throughout the year.[4] |
” |
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Oregon
The number of valid signatures required to force a recall election is 15% of the total number of votes cast in the public officer’s electoral district for all candidates for Governor at the last election at which a candidate for Governor was elected to a full term. The chief petitioner must turn in the required number of signatures no later than 90 days after the prospective petition has been filed.
Supporters of the recall effort have until October 27, 2025, to collect more than 292,933 signatures to require a recall election.
Historical gubernatorial recalls
From 2003 to 2024, Ballotpedia tracked 123 gubernatorial recall efforts against 26 different governors. During that time, three recalls made the ballot and one governor was successfully recalled. Former California Gov. Gray Davis (D) was recalled by voters in 2003. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was chosen as Davis' replacement. The only other governor to ever be successfully recalled was former North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier (R) in 1921. In 2012, Wisconsin voted to retain former Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the recall election. He received 53.1% of the vote. In 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was retained by voters.
Recall 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.
Election history
2022
See also: Oregon gubernatorial election, 2022
General election
General election for Governor of Oregon
The following candidates ran in the general election for Governor of Oregon on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tina Kotek (D / Working Families Party) | 47.0 | 917,074 |
 | Christine Drazan (R) | 43.5 | 850,347 | |
 | Betsy Johnson (Independent) | 8.6 | 168,431 | |
 | Donice Smith (Constitution Party) | 0.4 | 8,051 | |
 | R. Leon Noble (L)  | 0.4 | 6,867 | |
 | Paul Romero (Constitution Party of Oregon) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 2,113 | ||
| Total votes: 1,952,883 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Nathalie Paravicini (Pacific Green Party / Progressive Party)
- Tom Cox (L)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tina Kotek | 56.0 | 275,301 |
 | Tobias Read | 31.7 | 156,017 | |
 | Patrick Starnes | 2.1 | 10,524 | |
 | George Carrillo | 1.9 | 9,365 | |
 | Michael Trimble | 1.0 | 5,000 | |
 | John Sweeney | 0.9 | 4,193 | |
 | Julian Bell | 0.8 | 3,926 | |
 | Wilson Bright | 0.5 | 2,316 | |
 | Dave Stauffer | 0.5 | 2,302 | |
 | Ifeanyichukwu Diru | 0.4 | 1,780 | |
| Keisha Merchant | 0.4 | 1,755 | ||
| Genevieve Wilson | 0.3 | 1,588 | ||
 | Michael Cross | 0.3 | 1,342 | |
| David Beem | 0.3 | 1,308 | ||
 | Peter Hall | 0.2 | 982 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.8 | 13,746 | ||
| Total votes: 491,445 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Peter Winter (D)
- Casey Kulla (D)
- Nicholas Kristof (D)
- Dave Lavinsky (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Oregon
The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Oregon on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Christine Drazan | 22.5 | 85,255 |
 | Bob Tiernan | 17.5 | 66,089 | |
 | Stan Pulliam | 10.9 | 41,123 | |
 | Bridget Barton | 10.8 | 40,886 | |
 | Bud Pierce | 8.7 | 32,965 | |
 | Marc Thielman | 7.9 | 30,076 | |
 | Kerry McQuisten | 7.6 | 28,727 | |
| Bill Sizemore | 3.5 | 13,261 | ||
 | Jessica Gomez | 2.6 | 9,970 | |
 | Tim McCloud | 1.2 | 4,400 | |
 | Nick Hess | 1.1 | 4,287 | |
 | Court Boice | 1.1 | 4,040 | |
 | Brandon Merritt | 1.0 | 3,615 | |
| Reed Christensen | 0.8 | 3,082 | ||
 | Amber Richardson | 0.5 | 1,924 | |
 | Raymond Baldwin | 0.1 | 459 | |
 | David Burch | 0.1 | 406 | |
| John Presco | 0.0 | 174 | ||
 | Stefan Strek | 0.0 | 171 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.0 | 7,407 | ||
| Total votes: 378,317 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Darin Harbick (R)
- John Fosdick III (R)
- Jim Huggins (R)
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Initiatives, Referendums, Referrals and Recall," accessed August 5, 2025
- ↑ Grant Pass Tribune, "Interest Surges in Kotek Recall Effort as Petition Prepares to Circulate," July 30, 2025
- ↑ Oregon Secretary of State, "Prospective Petition - Recall (SEL 350)," accessed August 5, 2025
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ KTVZ, "‘She’s not protecting our well-being’: La Pine chief petitioner speaks out on why he began recall effort targeting Governor Kotek," August 4, 2025
