Listed below are candidates for Oregon State Representative who are running in Multnomah County in the 2022 General Election. The candidates for the same legislative district were asked the same questions, so you can compare their answers. Most candidates for State Representative were asked questions composed by the League of Women Voters of Oregon. The candidates for State Representative Districts 28 and 33 were asked different questions composed by the League of Women Voters of Portland. (In video interviews, candidates were asked as many questions as time allowed.)
Most of the information below is copied from the VOTE411 website of the League of Women Voters of the United States. Candidates have until Election Day to add their information to this website. Another way to easily compare candidates running for the same position is to visit VOTE411.org. On this webpage and on Vote411, links to LWV videos of candidate interviews are provided, when these are available.
Oregon State Representative, 28th District – Candidate Information
Patrick Castles, Republican
Patrick Castles has not responded yet to the VOTE411 questions. He did submit a statement that is printed in the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet on page 41. His website is https://www.patfororegon.com/
Dacia Grayber, Democrat, Independent, Working Families
Candidates’ Answers to LWV Questions
1. Do you support or oppose the gun safety measure (Measure 114) on the November ballot? Please explain your answer.
Patrick Castles: Candidate has not yet responded.
Dacia Grayber: I enthusiastically endorse Measure 114. While I believe it is not the “perfect” measure, I am adamant that any meaningful steps we can take towards harm reduction are meaningful and powerful. Gun violence is a brutal and pervasive public safety and public health threat that must continue to be addressed across a variety of platforms. There is no single “cure,” but this is an important step we can take.
2. What steps, if any, should the legislature take to address the climate emergency and its impacts on Oregonians?
Patrick Castles: Candidate has not yet responded.
Dacia Grayber: We must continue to aggressively and decisively address our climate emergency by expanding innovative approaches to carbon taxing, decoupling from fossil fuels, and expanding green infrastructure (and therefore green jobs) that the legislature has begun to take. Additionally, we need to continue pressing forward to ensure we are encouraging fire-wise communities (and hardening homes) to combat the ravages of wildfire season in oregon, which has become year-round and is increasing in intensity.
3. What more could Oregon do to help people move into safe and stable housing?
Patrick Castles: Candidate has not yet responded.
Dacia Grayber: We need clear and defined pathways from the streets to permanent housing with wraparound services, starting with detox facilities with medical, addiction, and psychological supports to help folks transition from the streets to transitional housing. Funding transitional housing is essential to supporting folks in this phase with wraparound services. Finally, we must do what we can to increase the existing housing stock in sustainable and affordable ways (like the mass timber project).
Oregon State Representative, 31st District – Candidate Information
Anthony Sorace, Democrat, Independent, Working Families
Brian G. Stout, Republican
Brian Stout has not yet responded to the Vote411 questions. He did submit information that is printed on page 42 of the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet. His website is https://stoutforstaterep.com.
Candidates’ Answers to LWV Questions
1. Describe what you see as the two most pressing issues for the next legislative session. What legislation would you propose to address these issues?
Anthony Sorace: 1) Healthcare. Access to mental health, addiction, and primary care services are all woefully lacking. We need to improve reimbursement, and mandate coverage, for mental health and addiction services. We also need to encourage training of new providers.
2) Housing costs. There are many approaches to this: we need to encourage construction of low-income housing, revisit rent increase limits, and examine the distortions caused by the short-term rental market, to start.
Brian G Stout: Candidate has not yet responded.
2. What should the Legislature do to improve the quality of Oregon’s K-12 public schools?
Anthony Sorace: We need to make sure our schools have the resources they need to address teacher shortages and provide all students safe and healthy learning environments. We’ve made great progress in the last decade, and we need to support our educators in continuing that work. We need to ensure that the current transitions in testing and graduation requirements lead to continuing high standards for our graduates. We need to do this while continuing to improve support services to allow all students to thrive.
Brian G Stout: Candidate has not yet responded.
3. What state action will you take to implement the limits on campaign contributions and expenditures that Oregon voters approved in 2020?
Anthony Sorace: The initiative petitions put forward by Honest Elections were a good starting point: they provide tiered caps for different types of campaigns, still allow for interest group involvement, but ensure individual voters will control their own political process. Locally in Columbia County, there is a campaign finance reform measure working its way through the petition process, with a similar structure. I would like to see more county-level action until we have good protections at the state level.
Oregon State Representative, 33rd District – Candidate Information
Stan Baumhofer, Republican
Maxine Dexter, Democrat, Working Families
Candidates’ Answers to LWV Questions
1. Do you support or oppose the gun safety measure (Measure 114) on the November ballot? Please explain your answer.
Stan Baumhofer: Any person over 18 years old may carry a gun after passing a background check
Maxine E Dexter: Support. As a mother, a physician and a lawmaker it is clear that firearms are creating not just injuries and death, but also pervasive fear in our communities. We need common sense interventions, such as those in Measure 114, to be implemented.
2. What steps, if any, should the legislature take to address the climate emergency and its impacts on Oregonians?
Stan Baumhofer: Promote electric cars. Penalize anyone putting trash in the ocean. Prevent forest fires. Penalize industry that emits foreign particles into the air.
Maxine E Dexter: Climate change is happening with devastating impacts on the most vulnerable people in our community and across the world. Heat-related deaths, devastating wildfires, drought impacts on our forest and farms, increased disease related to poor air quality, and many other impacts need to be addressed. We must pass clean air legislation, move urgently away from our dependence on fossil fuels, increase the resilience of our buildings and build/protect walkable, green neighborhoods to live and work in.
3. What more could Oregon do to help people move into safe and stable housing?
Stan Baumhofer: Provide indoor housing and penalize people living on the street
Maxine E Dexter: Most importantly, we must build more housing. To do this we will need to make it much more efficient and less costly to build and the state will need to take a more active role to make sure this happens. We need to preserve current affordable housing and be much more innovative in how we build for the future in our communities. Oregonians need options like multi-generational housing, small starter homes, co-op apartments, commercial property conversions in our urban areas and more public parks.
Oregon State Representative, 34th District – Candidate Information
Lisa Reynolds, Democrat, Independent, Working Families
John Woods, Republican
Candidates’ Answers to LWV Questions
1. Describe what you see as the two most pressing issues for the next legislative session. What legislation would you propose to address these issues?
Lisa Reynolds has not yet responded to this questions on VOTE411. However, she did answer it in her LWV Video Voters’ Guide interview, which you can view here: https://youtu.be/GXhoLbsGGGs.
John Woods: The Economy and taxes People cannot afford to live in Oregon anymore. The taxes and fees are driving people out yet the Democrats keep proposing new programs because the old ones didn’t work. Crime The Police are understaffed and not funded adequately, yet there is a ballot measure 114 that will cost millions if not billions in Police costs and it will fail immediately due to a poorly thought out way of implementing it. Plus it will be immediately challenged in court.
2. What should the Legislature do to improve the quality of Oregon’s K-12 public schools?
Lisa Reynolds: Candidate has not yet responded.
John Woods: Parents are the final authority for their children. The education money follows the child whether in charter school, home schooling, private school the goal is to educate not indoctrinate. Any teacher who cannot remove their bias and worldview from their job, should not be teaching.
3. What state action will you take to implement the limits on campaign contributions and expenditures that Oregon voters approved in 2020?
Lisa Reynolds: Candidate has not yet responded.
John Woods: When did that take effect? The Democrats spend money like there are no limits. Take a real good look at the campaigns if you are truly honest about this question. Then explain the disparity in money between Democrats and Republicans if you can.
Oregon State Representative, 38th District – Candidate Information
Alistair Firmin, Republican, Independent
Daniel Nguyễn, Democrat
Candidates’ Answers to LWV Questions
1. Describe what you see as the two most pressing issues for the next legislative session. What legislation would you propose to address these issues?
Alistair Firmin: We must address the rise in crime as well as the increase in the number of unsheltered homeless. Our legislature is good at passing laws and spending money, but not effective at results. I would propose the creation of comprehensive plans to address both issues that rely on evidenced based solutions that are proven to deliver results. Included in the legislation would be how those who proposed and/or are delivering the solutions would be held accountable for delivering the promised results.
Daniel Nguyen: Housing and improving the economic climate are two pressing issues We must increase affordable housing for working Oregonians and address the short-term and long-term needs of the state’s homeless population. Shelter, wrap around services in a coordinated approach with strong, accountable leadership is a must. We need to continue our support for workforce development, address the cost of healthcare, and prioritize our tax dollars for maximum efficiency with strong outcomes.
2. What should the Legislature do to improve the quality of Oregon’s K-12 public schools?
Alistair Firmin: The legislature needs to hold schools responsible for educating our students. We do that first by breaking down the barriers that exist to getting data on school and student performance. Second, we make that data available to all who want to see it. Third, we raise that standards for graduation back to where they were so we don’t allow our schools to graduate students who aren’t fully prepared to compete for jobs. Finally, we use data to hold school administrators responsible for results.
Daniel Nguyen: With an additional $1 billion dollars per year generated by the Student Success Act, Oregon has an opportunity to make significant progress toward the state’s Quality Education Model. It is incumbent on the legislature to ensure this money is being spent where it was intended. I also recognize that students, teachers and school personnel are working to address learning deficits from the pandemic along with increased mental health challenges and we can’t ignore that reality.
3. What state action will you take to implement the limits on campaign contributions and expenditures that Oregon voters approved in 2020?
Alistair Firmin: I am a proponent of open and honest elections. One of the most interesting parts of campaign contributions and expenditures I have learned about during this election is the movement of money between candidates that both masks the actual sources of those funds and also redirects funds away from the candidate that the donor actually gave to. I would support a movement to better disclose such movement of money or even limit the movement during an active campaign.
Daniel Nguyen: The voters overwhelmingly supported Measure 107 authorizing the Oregon State Legislature and local governments to limit political contributions and expenditures. I am committed to working with my colleagues to uphold and enact what the voters have asked of the legislature.