Speakers of the House Becoming Governors: A Rare Feat
Tina Kotek looks to break a new record: becoming the first sitting speaker to win the race for governor.
The news that Oregon’s Speaker of the House Tina Kotek will run for governor was not a surprise to political observers. But how have Oregon’s speakers done in becoming governors over the years? Not that well.
Seventy people have served as Speaker since statehood in 1859. That includes the shared speakership in the 2011 session, and it only counts people once—so Tina Kotek’s record five terms as speaker are counted as a single person.
Five people have served as both speaker and governor. Two of those are exceptional cases.
The regular cases were three people who were speakers, then they were elected governor. None of them went straight from being speaker to being elected governor—there were intervening years or offices between the two elections.
Zenas Moody: Speaker 1880; Governor 1883–87.
Theodore Geer: Speaker 1891; Governor 1899–1903.
Earl Snell: Speaker 1933; Governor 1943–1947 (served two terms as Secretary of State from 1935–1943).
If Kotek wins the governorship, she would be the first sitting speaker to be elected to that office.
The two exceptional cases were:
John Whiteaker: Oregon’s first governor from 1859–1862; Speaker 1868. He went from statewide office to heading up the House.
John Hall: Speaker 1947; Governor 1947–1949. Hall became governor upon the death in an air crash of Governor Snell, President of the Senate Marshall Cornett, and Secretary of State Robert Farrell—the line of succession before getting to Speaker of the House.
Longtime observer of Oregon and west coast politics. Political analyst for various media outlets, professor at Pacific University.
Editor’s note: This publication will not endorse a candidate for governor. All candidates are welcome to submit features to be considered for publication. The same criteria used to evaluate other submissions will be applied to those of aspiring statewide elected officials. In short, we’re looking for any and all Oregonians to contribute ideas for how we can revive our civic culture and move the state forward.