Tina Kotek recall, Governor of Oregon (2026)
| Tina Kotek recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| Signature requirement |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2026 Recalls in Oregon Oregon recall laws State executive recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Oregon Governor Tina Kotek (D) began on January 14, 2026. Supporters of the recall have 90 days—or no later than April 14, 2026—to collect 292,933 signatures to require a recall election.[1]
Proponents of the recall effort criticize Governor Kotek for allegedly violating her oath of office by refusing to comply with federal immigration enforcement requests. The recall effort claims state funds and benefits were improperly provided to undocumented immigrants, resulting in lost federal funding and increased taxes. The petition also argues that Oregon’s sanctuary policies conflict with the preferences of a majority of voters.[2]
Governor Kotek was elected as Oregon's governor in 2022 with 47% of the vote.
Recall supporters
Mike Marshall launched the recall effort on January 14, 2026. The recall petition lists the following reasons for recall:[2]
| “ |
Blatantly violating her oath to uphold the constitution and choosing to protect illegal pedophiles and rapists breaking several Federal immigration laws refusing to honor i.c.e. detainers even if it's an illegal rapist getting out of prison using our taxes for there EBT ,OHP, drivers licensees even giving preferential housing. Loosing our federal funding by breaking these laws then scrambling to force more taxes on almost the highest taxed state in the nation. The overwhelming majority of oregonians do not want to pay for illegals and disagree with the make believe sanctuary policies[3] |
” |
Recall opponents
As of January 26, 2026, Kotek had not responded to the recall effort.
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 initiative have until April 14, 2026, to collect more than 292,933 signatures to require a recall election.
Historical gubernatorial recalls
From 2003 to 2025, Ballotpedia tracked 125 gubernatorial recall efforts against 27 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 2025 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 January 26, 2026
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Oregon Secretary of State, "Petition R-2026-01 against Governor Tina Kotek," accessed January 26, 2026
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
