A small business owner from Gervais recently announced her campaign for the Oregon State Senate seat that represents Keizer, Woodburn, and north Salem.
Tracy Cramer, a Republican, represented House District 22 in 2023 and 2024.
“I didn’t feel like my work was done,” Cramer said. “I was born and raised in my district. I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years, and not necessarily for the good. I’d love to get back in and work on some of the things that I was working on.”
Cramer ran for the House seat again in 2025, but lost by 161 votes to Lesly Muñoz.
Kim Thatcher currently holds Keizer’s Senate seat. Thatcher, a Republican, endorsed Cramer in a campaign press release. “Her deep roots in our community, combined with her legislative experience and dedication to public service, make her uniquely qualified to be our next state senator,” Thatcher said. “I’m proud to endorse Tracy and will do everything I can to help her win this seat.”
Thatcher is barred from seeking reelection to a seat she has held since 2015.
Cramer said that she’s focused on decreasing cost of living, improving education, and lending a hand to small business owners.
“Even currently they’re trying to pass another gas tax,” she said, referencing Gov. Tina Kotek’s recent transportation package, which would result in a six-cent increase to Oregon’s 40-cent gasoline tax.
“In the Legislature, when you pass these particular bills…maybe it’s a tax on a small business, what do those businesses do? They carry it on to the consumer,” Cramer said. “So we have done that hundreds and hundreds of times in incremental ways in Oregon. It’s kind of that death by a hundred paper cuts analogy.”
According to her campaign release, Cramer helped pass a housing package in 2023 to “reduce costs, expand housing options for farm workers, and move homeless Oregonians into permanent housing.”
Cramer is also determined to expand high school options in the Salem-Keizer area.
She noted that in her term in the House she advocated for career technical education programs, which aim to provide a combination of trade-based training and academics for high school students.
Cramer mentioned a $1 million funding package that she helped pass for the Willamette Career Academy. The academy used some of the money to create a dental assisting program, Cramer said.
“I was a dental assistant. Had I been able to get an education prior to me graduating, it would’ve put me so much farther ahead. I think that’s the case with a lot of these students,” she said.
Cramer was born and raised in Gervais. She decided to run for the House after the pandemic, which halted her property management business. A mother of three, she said her family inspires her to be politically involved.
“My kids and my community really are the strong pull for me to get engaged again,” she said.
News tip? Contact reporter Riley Ellis: [email protected]
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