Kotek in 2026 election gained voters in NE Oregon

PENDLETON — Northeastern Oregon is a bastion for Republicans, but Gov. Tina Kotek gained votes overall in the region since the 2022 general election. Republican challenger Christine Drazan’s vote total for the region was nearly flat from 2022 to 2026. Voters in the Nov. 3 election gave Kotek another four-year term. Kotek in Baker, Grant, Morrow, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties won a collective of 14,709 votes, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s unofficial results. But in 2022, she won 11,765 in those same counties. Grant County was the only one of the six where the governor did not gain votes. She received 576 votes there in 2022 and 576 in 2026. She gained the most votes in Umatilla County, the county with the largest population in the region at about 82,000, jumping from 5,403 in 2022 to 7,132 this election, an increase of more than 1,700 votes.

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