PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Democrat Tina Kotek was Oregon’s longest-serving Speaker of the Oregon House, serving 9 years from 2013 to earlier this year when she left the leadership position to concentrate on her race for governor.
Now, she finds herself in a tight race with Republican Christine Drazan. Former Democrat and now unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson is behind in the current polls, but remains a formidable presence.
A Republican hasn’t been governor since Vic Atiyeh in the eighties.
Tina Kotek was the first of three weeks of interviews with the gubernatorial candidates.
Watch the full interview in the player above.