2024 Oregon elections

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Ageneral election was held in the U.S. state ofOregon on November 5, 2024. Primary elections were held on May 21, 2024.

In the early hours of October 28 an incendiary device was placed in a ballot drop box in Portland damaging 3 ballots.^[1]

All six of Oregon's seats in theUnited States House of Representatives were up for re-election in 2024. These seats were represented by four Democrats and two Republicans prior to the election.

InOregon's 5th district, Democratic state representativeJanelle Bynum defeated incumbent RepublicanLori Chavez-DeRemer, flipping the district.^[2] Democratic state representativeMaxine Dexter was elected toOregon's 3rd district, replacing retiring Democratic representativeEarl Blumenauer.^[3] Incumbent representativesSuzanne Bonamici,Cliff Bentz,Val Hoyle, andAndrea Salinas all won reelection in their respective districts.

After winning the election for Secretary of State in 2020, Democrat and former state legislatorShemia Fagan resigned from office on May 8, 2023, after revelations that she took a consulting job at a cannabis company while her office was auditing Oregon's marijuana industry, which many considered to be aconflict of interest.Cheryl Myers took office as acting Secretary of State while GovernorTina Kotek sought for another person to serve Fagan's remaining term. On June 28, 2023, Kotek announced former Portland city auditorLaVonne Griffin-Valade to serve the remaining term.^[4]

In the May primary election,Oregon State TreasurerTobias Read was nominated by the Democratic Party andState SenatorDennis Linthicum was nominated by the Republican Party. TheProgressive Party andPacific Green Party both nominated Dr. Nathalie Paravicini.

In the general election, Read was elected with 54% of the vote.^[5]

Ellen Rosenblum, a Democrat and former judge on theOregon Court of Appeals, was first elected in 2012, and was re-elected to the position in 2016 and 2020. Rosenblum has announced that she will not run for re-election.

In the May primary,Speaker of the HouseDan Rayfield was nominated by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party nominated attorney Will Lathrop.

In the general election, Rayfield was elected with 54% of the vote.^[5]

Democrat and former state legislatorTobias Read was elected to a second term in 2020. Read is running forSecretary of State.

In the May primary, State SenatorsElizabeth Steiner andBrian Boquist were nominated by the Democratic and Republican Parties, respectively.

In the general election, Steiner was elected with a plurality of 49% of the vote.^[5]

All 60 seats in theOregon House of Representatives and 15 of 30 seats in theOregon State Senate were up for election in 2024.

In the general election, Democrats gained one seat in each chamber, enough for a three-fifthssupermajority and the possibility of passing tax increases without Republican votes.^[6][7]

IncumbentDemocraticmayorTed Wheeler was eligible to run for re-election to a third term in office but decided not to run. Incumbentcity auditor Simone Rede is eligible to run for re-election, and has stated her intention to do so. In addition, thePortland City Council was expanded from five seats to twelve (three each from one of four districts), all of which were elected for the first time.

The 2024 Portland elections were the first to useranked-choice voting after it was instituted by the passage of a 2022 ballot measure.^[8] All elected city positions were up for election, but will return to staggered rotation in subsequent elections. All seats are nonpartisan.

There were five statewideOregon ballot measures on the general election ballot. As a result of the election, two passed and three were rejected by voters.^[9]

Ballot Measure 115

Impeachment of Elected State Executives Amendment: Authorizes impeachment of statewide elected officials by Oregon Legislature with two-thirds vote by each House; establishes process.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,340,837 64.20% No 747,543 35.80%

Oregon Ballot Measure 115, entitled theImpeachment of Elected State Executives Amendment, was a successful amendment to theConstitution of Oregon.^[10][11] As approved by voters, it amended the state Constitution to grant theOregon State Legislature the power to impeach and remove statewide elected officials in the Executive branch of the Oregon state government: theOregon Governor,Oregon Secretary of State,Oregon Attorney General,Oregon State Treasurer, andOregon Commissioner of Labor and Industries.^[12][13]

Under the amendment, grounds for impeachment are "malfeasance or corrupt conduct in office, willful neglect of statutory or constitutional duty or other felony or high crime." The measure requires a two-thirds supermajority vote of theOregon House of Representatives to impeach a statewide elected official. If successfully impeached, the chief justice of theOregon Supreme Court would preside over a trial in theOregon State Senate. After the conclusion of the trial, a vote of the state senators would be held on conviction of the official and would require another two-thirds supermajority vote to convict.^[14]

On May 1, 2023, then Oregon secretary of stateShemia Fagan announced that she would resign following reporting fromWillamette Week that she had been working as a private consultant for the owners of La Mota, a cannabis dispensary chain operating in Oregon, while the Audits Division, which reported to Fagan, worked on an audit of theOregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission.^[15] Fagan's resignation followed calls from Republican leaders in both chambers of the Oregon State Legislature for her to resign and occurred after GovernorTina Kotek launched an ethics investigation into Fagan's actions. Over a month after Fagan's resignation, each house of the Oregon Legislature voted unanimously to send the proposed impeachment referral to voters for the 2024 general election.^[16][17]

As of 2024, Oregon was the only state without an impeachment doctrine enshrined in its state Constitution.^[18] The only mechanism Oregon had for removing elected officials from office was recall, a process that had never in Oregon's history been successful at removing a governor or other statewide elected official.^[19]

Proponents of the measure argued that it was needed to expedite the removal of a statewide official for malfeasance and to give state legislators a mechanism for doing so that can be utilized by legislators in all other states. Oregon Rep.Jami Cate, aLebanon Republican, cited the past ethics violations of previous elected officials, including Fagan, as evidence that this was a tool needed by the state legislature.^[14] Opponents argued that the current recall system was already sufficient and that voters should retain the right to remove officials that they themselves elected.^[20]

Ballot Measure 116

Independent Public Service Compensation Commission Amendment: Establishes “Independent Public Service Compensation Commission” to determine salaries for specified officials; eliminates legislative authority to set such salaries.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 981,715 47.54% No 1,083,451 52.46%

Oregon Ballot Measure 116, theIndependent Public Service Compensation Commission Amendment, was a proposed amendment to the Oregon Constitution.^[10][11] If approved, it would have established an "Independent Public Service Compensation Commission", which would determine salaries for politicians and other government figures in the state.^[21] Newspaper editorials byThe Oregonian andWillamette Week opposed the ammendment, stating that the Commission would not be independent from the Oregon Legislature, which would later determine who would get appointed to the Commission and how it would operate.^[22][23]

Ballot Measure 117

Ranked-Choice Voting for Federal and State Elections Measure: Gives voters option to rank candidates in order of preference; candidates receiving majority of votes in final round wins.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 893,668 42.30% No 1,219,013 57.70%

Oregon Ballot Measure 117, theRanked-Choice Voting for Federal and State Elections Measure, was a proposed stateinitiative.^[10][11] If approved, primary and general elections for statewide and federal offices would have been done throughranked-choice (instant-runoff) voting, as opposed to the currentplurality voting system, starting in2028. It would also have made the office of thesecretary of state provide voter education on how to use the system.^[24] Other states that had adopted similar measures areMaine andAlaska. Two Oregon counties had already adopted RCV for local elections, beingBenton andMultnomah.^[25]

Ballot Measure 118

Corporate Tax Revenue Rebate for Residents Initiative: Increases highest corporate minimum taxes; distributes revenue to eligible individuals; state replaces reduced federal benefits.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 477,516 22.53% No 1,641,682 77.47%

Oregon Ballot Measure 118, theCorporate Tax Revenue Rebate for Residents Initiative, was a proposed stateinitiative.^[10][11] If accepted, the measure would have increased the statecorporate minimum tax to 3% on businesses with sales of more than $25 million, and then used those funds to give atax rebate of $1,600 to all Oregonians regardless of their income level.

The measure received overwhelming opposition from Oregon politicians across the political spectrum (including GovernorTina Kotek and State TreasurerTobias Read), public policy organizations, and businesses.^[26][27][28] Opponents of the measure believed that an increased sales tax would be passed on to consumers through price increases, and criticized the tax rebate for its lack of income or age test (i.e. that even Oregon billionaires would receive an annual check).^[27] The primary donors who supported the bill are Californian residents who wish to promote the idea of auniversal basic income.^[28][29]

Measure 118 was considered the most controversial of the five, and it united a broad coalition of politicians and business executives opposing it. It was overwhelmingly rejected by a majority of voters in all of Oregon's 36 counties.^[30][31]

Ballot Measure 119

Unionization of Cannabis Workers Initiative: Cannabis retailers/producers must remain neutral regarding communications to their employees from labor organizations; penalties.
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 1,166,425 56.74% No 889,265 43.26%

Oregon Ballot Measure 119, theUnionization of Cannabis Workers Initiative, was a successfulinitiative.^[10][11] As approved by voters, it would have made it easier for workers in theCannabis industry tounionize.^[32] According to the Oregon Department of Employment, there were 7,281 workers that this initiative would have affected.^[33]

On May 20, 2025, a federal judge at theUnited States District Court for the District of Oregon struck down Measure 119, declaring it unconstitutional. The judge assigned to the case cited the measure as a violation of the free speech of cannabis business owners, and that it was preempted by federal labor laws.^{[citation needed]}

A poll was conducted byPublic Policy Polling (a firm affiliated with the Democratic Party), and sponsored by theNorthwest Progressive Institute. It was administered on October 16–17, 2024, with a sample of 716 likely voters. These figures have a margin of error of± 3.7%.^[34]

Results of each ballot measure

Measure 115

Measure 116

Measure 117

Measure 118

Measure 119

Yes   80-90%   70-80%   60-70%   50-60%

No   80-90%   70-80%   60-70%   50-60%

• 2024 Oregon elections
• 2024 elections in the United States by state
• November 2024 in the United States
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