Republican Dennis Linthicum (left) is facing Democrat Tobias Read in the secretary of state’s race. (Campaign photos)
This is a developing story and will be updated
In the race for Oregon’s top election official, voters appear to have overwhelmingly favored a longtime public servant over a Republican state senator who trumpeted false claims about stolen elections.
Democratic State Treasurer Tobias Read led Republican state Sen. Dennis Linthicum of Beatty with nearly 58% of the vote compared with 39% for Linthicum in initial election returns posted shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Additional results are expected throughout the night.
Between two political scandals that led to then-Secretary of State Kate Brown becoming governor after John Kitzhaber resigned in 2015, and Secretary of State Shemia Fagan stepping down last year, as well as the death of former Republican Secretary of State Dennis Richardson in 2019, Oregon has had six secretaries of state and two acting secretaries over the past decade.
The office, which oversees elections and business registrations and audits state agencies and programs, has also been under more pressure during the past few years because of increased criticism of elections and election workers tied to false claims about stolen elections.
Linthicum, who has served in the state Senate since 2017 and was barred from running for reelection because he missed too many floor sessions while participating in a six-week walkout over bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and guns in 2023, is one of Oregon’s most prominent election deniers. He was a plaintiff in a failed federal lawsuit that sought to end Oregon’s vote-by-mail system and declined to say during a debate with Read whether he trusted the results of the 2020 election — when both he and Democratic President Joe Biden won.
Read has spent the past eight years leading the Oregon Treasury and placed second to now-Gov. Tina Kotek in the open 2022 Democratic primary for governor. He represented Beaverton in the state House for 10 years before running for treasurer.
Read said he hopes to serve two full terms as secretary of state and bring stability and strong leadership to the agency. He wants to rebuild trust in elections, including by copying a California practice of allowing voters to shadow election workers as they pick up ballots from drop boxes and process them for counting.
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