GOP skips many Portland House races

Districts with huge Democratic majorities may not be worth it

By Kevin Harden

The Portland Tribune, Mar 21, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

It’s not easy being a Republican in the Portland area.

Just ask Bill Cornett. He has twice run for the House District 46 seat as a Republican, losing both times to Democrats who were better funded and had a more than 2-to-1 advantage in voter registration. (District 46 includes the Mount Tabor and Montavilla neighborhoods of Southeast Portland.)

Cornett figured out what most Republicans running for office in the heart of Multnomah County have learned: Democrats dominate the political landscape. In at least seven House districts around the county, Democrats hold a better than 2-to-1 edge in voter registration. In some districts, there are more nonaffiliated voters than Republicans.

“We’re outnumbered,” Cornett said.

A handful of Democratic candidates will have a big advantage in this year’s election. The Republican Party of Oregon is not running candidates in 10 House races in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.

Democrats won’t be challenged in House districts 31 (Sauvie Island and Scappoose to Astoria), 33 (Northwest Portland, northern Washington County), 40 (Gladstone and unincorporated Clackamas County), 42 (Southeast Portland and Ladd’s Addition area), 43 (inner Northeast, part of North Portland), 44 (North Portland, Northeast Portland around the airport), 45 (Northeast Portland to Interstate 205, Maywood Park), 46 (on both sides of 82nd Avenue south of Interstate 84), 47 (east Portland between I-205 and Gresham) and 48 (Powell Butte area, Happy Valley).

It is the first time in six years that no Republican will be on the ballot in many of the districts. Since 2002, Republicans have skipped races only in House districts 31 and 45 a couple of times, running candidates in nearly all the other districts in 2004 and 2006.

Statewide, there are no Republicans in 18 House races, most of them in areas where Democrats hold large voter-registration leads.

“I think this is a tough year for Republicans,” said longtime Portland lobbyist Gary Conkling.

A stumbling national economy, an unpopular war in Iraq and disdain for the Bush administration could be scaring away potential Republican candidates this year, he said.

“I know a lot of Republican folks who say this isn’t a comfortable year for them,” Conkling said. “That doesn’t mean things won’t turn around. But for right now, it’s not a good time for them to run for office.”

Added Tom Gallagher, a Salem political insider and lobbyist: “It’s pretty demoralizing to ask someone to run for office and try to raise a bunch of money, and then give them a walking list of Republican households in the district and you discover that it’s one in every 15 houses.”

On the flip side, Democrats don’t have candidates in six House races, mostly in southern and eastern parts of the state, where Republicans dominate voter-registration numbers.

Retaining seats comes first

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