As Americans throughout the nation hold their breath waiting to find out who the next president of the United States will be, more local elections appeared to have been determined decisively.
The tallies in this story do not represent final totals, but were the most up-to-date figures available at press time Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Keizer City Council Position 1
Keizer City Councilor Laura Reid appeared to have fended off challenger Mike De Blasi in her bid for a second term.
Reid collected about 61.3% and De Blasi ended his campaign with roughly 38.7%. That amounted to 8,305 votes for Reid and 5,241 for De Blasi.
“I would like to think this is a vote for unity,” said Reid of the voters’ endorsement. “The council has always worked in unity and we’ve gotten away from that in meetings lately. We need to work together instead of at ends.”
In a second term, Reid said she hopes to become more involved in the regional aspects of local government such at the Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments or the League of Oregon Cities. She also hopes to do more to improve the council’s outreach as a way of moving some of the more tense discussions forward.
“We have to reach out in ways that will be more productive. Making city hall a welcoming place is one thing, but maybe it means taking the meetings out of the building,” Reid said.
Reid is a teacher at McNary High School. De Blasi is an employee of the state working in natural resources management.
Keizer City Council Position 2
Keizer voters picked attorney Ross Day for Position 2 on the Keizer City Council. Day appeared to be wining with 55% of the vote to opponent Dylan Juran’s 45% at press time. Day amassed 7,381 votes to Juran’s 6,041.
Juran is a technology consultant with a education-based non-profit.
Day said he was excited to dig into the conversations regarding how Keizer can grow, but also had a long conversation with Mayor Cathy Clark about homelessness.
“I don’t like seeing people on the streets or in tents, but I don’t think they have any other choice,” Day said. “I find it morally repugnant that we live in such a beautiful and prosperous area and we can’t provide for those individuals.”
He found Clark to be of a similar mindset.
“Getting the opportunity to be part of the council is still sinking in, but I want to be part of Keizer’s leadership on the paths that lay ahead,” said Day.
Keizer City Council Position 3
The race for Position 3 on the Keizer City Council was a squeaker. Kyle Juran (50.17%) was leading opponent Michele Roland-Schwartz (48.83%) at press time.
Juran, owner of Remodeling by Classic Homes, had 6,733 votes to Roland-Schwartz’s 6,688 votes.
Roland-Schwartz is the executive director of the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force.
Keizer Measure 24-453 (City charter)
Keizer voters approved changes to the city charter that will remove anti-LGBTQ language from the city’s founding document. Voters found overwhelming favor with the revised charter. Nearly 67% of voters (9,676 voters) approved of the changes, just 33% (4,794 voters) opposed them.
The anti-LGBTQ language was put into the charter with by a vote in 1992. The 67% majority approving of the changes was a strong rebuke of the 55% percent that approved the anti-LGBTQ changes in the 1990s.
Marion County Fire District 1 levy
Marion County Fire District 1’s (MCFD1) resolution (Measure 254-2) to renew the local option levy appeared to have been denied by the slimmest of margins by voters on Tuesday.
The levy would institute a property tax of $0.71 per $1,000 of assessed property value for a five-year period, which is the same rate as it was from 2016 to 2020.
However, the ballot measure fell just eight votes short of being approved.
Out of 16,688 casted votes, 8,999 people voted in favor of the proposal while 9,126 voted against the levy. It is the second failed levy of the calendar year for MCFD1.
Marion County Commissioner
Keizerite Danielle Bethel appeared to have won an open seat on the Marion County Commission. Bethell (51.24%) defeated Democrat Ashley Carson-Cottingham (45.89%).
“I’m elated with the results,” said Bethell.
She is looking forward to collaborating with fellow commissioners on the board and “bringing people together to work for county-solutions.”
Bethell is currently Keizer’s representative on the Salem-Keizer School Board and will serve as executive director of the Keizer Chamber of Commerce through the end of the year. Bethell received 65,865 votes to Carson Cottingham’s 58.989.
District 25 State Representative
Bill Post has been elected for his fourth term as House Representative for Oregon District 25. On election night he was cautious to claim a victory until every vote was counted.
“I always feel like politicians who say, ‘I’m going to do this during my next term,’ are kind of presumptuous. You have to win first,” Post said.
He does not have any plans or priorities for his next term as his energy has been focused on getting re-elected.
“I’m going to do what I’ve always done, represent my constituents and vote,” Post said.
Post won the support of 17,488 voters (56.14%) to challenger Ramiro “RJ” Navarro’s 13,617 votes (43.71%)
Secretary of State
Keizerite Kim Thatcher (R) was defeated by Shemia Fagan (D) in the race for Secretary of State. Fagan received 1,068,793 votes (51%) while Thatcher collected 888,984 votes (42%).
Kyle Markely and Nathalie Paravicini each received less that 4% of the votes.
Fagan spent more than $3.1 million on her campaign, more than tripling the amount of Thatcher.
Thatcher was first elected to the Oregon House District 25 in 2004, which serves Keizer. She remained in that position until Jan. 12, 2015, when she was elected to fill Oregon State Senate Seat 13. Her term in the state senate ends in 2023.
U.S. Representative
In the race for U.S Representative (5th District), incumbent Kurt Schrader (D) defeated Amy Ryan Courser (R), receiving 50.33% of the vote.
Ryan Courser, who served on the Keizer City Council from 2015 to 2018 fell 3,806 votes short, receiving 47.26% of the vote.
Libertarian candidate Matthew James Rix finished in third, only receiving 2.41% of the votes.
Schrader, who has held Oregon’s Congressional District 5 seat since 2008, will be serving his seventh term in office.
Oregon’s 5th congressional district represents Oregon’s central coast through Salem, north to the southern Portland suburbs, and east to the summit of Mount Hood. It includes Lincoln, Marion and Polk Counties, most of Clackamas and Tillamook Counties, plus parts of Benton and Multnomah Counties.
Measure 107
Measure 107, which allows for local laws limiting campaign expenditures, was passing with more than 78% percent of the vote throughout the state.
Measure 108
A measure that will add to the tax on tobacco-related products and tax vaping products for the first time,was passing with more than 66% of the vote.
Measure 109
Oregon became the first state in the union to lessen regulations on the manufacture of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic, for therapeutic purposes.
Measure 110
Measure 110, which reduces penalties on a number of drug-related infractions and diverts money to treatment programs, was passing with roughly 59% of the vote.