Results from Tuesday's primary were anything but cryptic

Cryptocurrency-backed candidates sank while experienced legislators fared well, young voters stayed home and an incumbent congressman likely lost his seat

In Tuesday’s midterm primary, cryptocurrency took another hit, most registered voters took a pass, almost all expected winners won and dreamy-eyed ‘outsider’ candidates for open seats crashed back to earth. If we paid attention, we also learned about little red boxes.

Top headlines from the primary were an unprecedented three-woman race for governor in the fall, the apparent defeat of seven-term Congressman Kurt Schrader, spendy free-for-all races for open seats and record campaign spending that made even TV station managers blush.

Perhaps the biggest lesson learned is that Oregon isn’t a landing pad for helicopter candidates like Carrick Flynn, who was born here (as we were told repeatedly in his ads), but hasn’t lived here (until recently) or done anything here (including voting) for years. His cryptocurrency billionaire backer spent millions on TV ads, mailers and pop-up ads only to see Flynn finish a distant second. Like an old pro, Flynn’s campaign went negative as soon as he or his financial backer realized he was losing to a mere mortal state lawmaker.

The saddest truth to emerge from the primary was how low voter turnout was, with preliminary estimates at a measly 33 percent of registered voters. This may reflect widespread voter dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, but it also reveals a troubling trend – younger voters just don’t bother to vote. And then there is the problem that the 1,022,556 non-affiliated Oregon voters cannot vote for partisan candidates in a closed primary. More on this in a moment.

If there was any redemption in the primary, it’s that the most radical candidates in both parties lost. The possible exception was Jo Rae Perkins winning the nomination to be the Republicans’ sacrificial candidate against US Senator Ron Wyden.

If you think the primary election ended political ads on TV for a few months, think again. Independent gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson came roaring out of the gates Wednesday morning  with a new driving-with-Betsy TV ad openly appealing to Democrats and Republicans to vote for her. Democratic and Republican attack ads against Johnson can’t be far behind.

Even though she wasn’t on the ballot, Johnson outspent her general election rivals in the primary. Democrat Tina Kotek and Republican Christine Drazan each raised around $2.5 million but spent virtually all they had to ensure their primary nominations. Johnson still has more than $5 million to launch her general election campaign. That’s a lot of ground to make up.

Johnson’s strategy, guided by some of the state’s sharpest political strategists, is to claim the political middle in a three-way race. Her well-established support for and political contributions from timber and other business interests doesn’t leave a lot of maneuvering room for Drazan who steered her primary campaign toward the mainstream. Her biggest opportunity may be to jab at Johnson’s pro-choice stance.

Kotek has more political turf in which to operate. She has solid support from public employee and other labor unions, especially in the construction trades. Johnson’s record will drive the environmental community into Kotek’s camp. Kotek is the progressive’s progressive.

What Johnson is counting on is that independent voters will like her political independence, Republicans voters will think she has a chance to win and at least some Democrats will see her as an alternative to Kate Brown 2.0.

Governors aren’t able to cure all the ills voters feel, such as inflation, rising crime rates and homelessness. But this year’s gubernatorial election may be a stand-in for voters to vent, which will require a different kind of campaign approach than normal to turn venom into votes.

The turnout problem runs deeper than a season of discontent. It’s as if voters are losing faith in the ability of elections to elect leaders who matter. The time may have come for party loyalists like me to open our minds to fresh approaches to voting. Oregon already has the most convenient and secure voting system in America. What we don’t have is a primary open to all registered voters.

There are justifiable reasons for closed primaries. But the greater good is to find a way to entice every registered voter to participate in primary elections, which often effectively decide legislative, local and judicial races.

The simplest remedy is to allow the 1,022,556 non-affiliated voters to choose which partisan primary they want to vote in. Party leaders might object but shouldn’t because the selection process would give them a ready-made target list for recruits.

Washington pioneered another option, the top-two primary system that lets every registered voter vote for anyone they want on the ballot. The two candidates with the highest vote totals, regardless of party affiliation (or lack of affiliation), move on to the general election. Establishing a top-two primary system took Washington years to complete, including testing its constitutionality in the face of challenges that went to the US Supreme Court in 2000. The first Top-Two primary in Washington didn’t happen until 2008.

Following Washington’s example would take at least one or two election cycles to implement. Why not a simpler change to our current system that could be in place for the 2024 presidential primary, which typically attracts much higher turnout.

Oh yeah, those little red boxes that are barely visible on candidate websites are actually political signals to supportive dark-money Super PACs directing their advertising messages and targets. The New York Timesfeatured the red boxes in a front-page story Monday, with this headline: “Candidates Are Flouting the Rules of Campaign Finance in Plain Sight”.

One of the examples cited in the story involved Congressman Schrader and the Super PAC, Center Forward, with apparent ties to the pharmaceutical industry. The Times quoted Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who defeated Schrader in Tuesday’s Democratic primary barring a surprise from late ballot counting, “How can our party credibly argue that we will get big money out of politics in November with candidates like Schrader on the ballot?” The story noted McLeod-Skinner had her own website red box directing PAC messaging.

Gary Conkling has been involved in Oregon politics for more than 50 years as a reporter and editor, congressional staffer and public affairs professional.