Two Democrats lead for open Oregon House seats

Shannon Jones Isadore jumped to a lead over Democratic rivals for the Oregon House seat in Northwest Portland being vacated by Maxine Dexter.

Isadore had 51%, Pete Grabiel 28% and Brian Duty 21% in tallies from Tuesday’s primary. Isadore is the founder of Oregon Change Clinic, Grabiel a lawyer and Duty a surgeon at Oregon Health & Science University.

Dexter, also a physician, vacated the seat after two terms in an apparently successful bid for the Democratic nomination for the open 3rd District seat in the U.S. House.

Ballots were still being counted. Oregon law allows ballots to be counted if they were postmarked by Tuesday and are received by May 28, or if they were at official drop sites by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

The House District 33 seat was one of two open metro area seats in the Oregon House.

On the Republican side, Stan Baumhofer and Dick Courter were running neck and neck, 49% to 47%. They were separated in the raw count by just 17 votes.

District 33 has a Democratic registration edge over Republicans, 51% to 7%.

For the other open Oregon House seat in District 46, Willy Chotzen had a 72-27 lead over Mary Lou Hennrich in Southeast Portland. Chotzen is a lawyer with Metropolitan Public Defender, Hennrich a retired public health administrator and founder of Care Oregon, the largest provider under the Oregon Health Plan.

No Republican filed. Democrats have a registration edge over Republicans, 49.6% to 7.8%.

The two-term Democratic incumbent, Khanh Pham, was unopposed for nomination to the open District 23 seat in the Oregon Senate.

In one other closely watched race, Christine Drazan of Canby appears to have won the Republican nomination for the District 51 seat she resigned in 2022 to run for governor. Early tallies had her winning over Rep. James Hieb of Canby, who was appointed to succeed her and then won a term on his own, by 69% to 31%.

Drazan was first elected in 2018, and ousted Carl Wilson of Grants Pass to become House Republican leader after the 2019 session. She won another term as leader after Republicans gained one seat in the 2020 elections.

Hieb was one of two Republican incumbents to lose their primaries. The other was Rep. Charlie Conrad of Dexter.

Other contested metro area House races in the primary:

Rep. Farrah Chaichi, D-Beaverton, turned back a primary challenge from Casey Zimmerman in District 35, 78% to 21%. Chaichi is seeking a second term.Rep. Jules Walters, D-West Linn, won her primary over Brian Maguire in District 37, 89% to 10%. She is seeking a second term.Michael Steven Newgard will be the Republican nominee in District 40 against Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone, after defeating Sue Leslie, 60% to 39%. Hartman is seeking a second term and was unopposed in her primary.Rep. Travis Nelson, D-Portland, won his primary over Christine Nair in District 44, 91% to 9%. Nelson is a 2022 appointee to the seat that Tina Kotek vacated in her successful bid for governor.Rep. Hoa Nguyen, D-Portland, won her primary over Elizabeth Petersen in District 48, 73% to 26%. Her Republican opponent for a second-term bid will be John Masterman, who defeated Andrew Morrison, 67% to 32%.