Who is running for Secretary of State? 8 candidates seek Oregon position 1 year after Fagan scandal

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – It’s been a year since the last elected Oregon Secretary of State resigned from office, leaving the door open for candidates interested in the role.

Two years into her term, former secretary Shemia Fagan stepped down from the office amid scandal in May 2023 as her recusal from a state audit on the cannabis industry earlier in the year spurred an investigation.

The investigation followed ethics concerns for her paid consulting work with Veride Holding LLC, an affiliate of cannabis company La Mota. Her contract was active as her office audited the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission and concluded that Oregon laws were hindering cannabis businesses.

Deputy Secretary Cheryl Myers oversaw the agency until Gov. Tina Kotek appointed LaVonne Griffin-Valade to the position in June 2023. 

Since then, eight candidates – five Democrats and three Republicans – have stepped forward. The primary election on Tuesday, May 21 will determine the candidate that will represent their party in the upcoming November election.

Candidate Profiles

Democrats

Jim Crary

Once an attorney for the Municipality of Anchorage for 14 years and currently a Pinehurst School Board member, Crary hopes to challenge the way political campaigns run in Oregon.

In response to a KOIN 6 News questionnaire, Crary said he believes “candidates running for public office should be interviewed by their prospective employers (i.e., the voters).” If elected, he would create a new tab – which he calls an Electronic Candidate Forum – on the Secretary of State website that would allow any registered voter to ask questions of their candidates.

James Manning

An Oregon Senator serving District 7, commissioner of the Eugene Water Electric Board, and commissioner with the Oregon Commission on Black Affairs, Manning calls himself “a public servant running to restore trust and integrity in the Office of Secretary of State.”

“I am excited to preserve, protect, and expand our systems of participation for eligible voters that allow for an informed electorate to vote by mail, utilize paid postage, and register online or through Automatic Voter Registration such as Motor, Voter and OHA,” Manning said in his response to KOIN 6 News’ candidate questionnaire.

Tobias Read

Leaving behind his role as Oregon Treasurer (which he has served since 2017), Read claims to be the only candidate for Secretary of State who checks the boxes for “strong leadership with successful experience in running a statewide agency with varied responsibilities.”

Read addressed the changes he would make to the office in his questionnaire with KOIN 6 News, stating he plans to build on Oregon’s legacy as “a national leader in elections policy” by pushing for programs like “satellite voting centers and services that alert voters that their ballots have been received and counted can help boost turnout and improve public trust in state government.”

Dave Stauffer

A former attorney and Oregon securities analyst, Stauffer claims to be the best fit for the role of Secretary thanks to his “patented inventions that can greatly improve Oregon’s environment," emphasizing the secretary’s dual role of Chair of the Board of Sustainability and Environment.

In his response to KOIN 6 News’ candidate questionnaire, Stauffer said Oregon should implement his five large environmental inventions “to solve Oregon’s environmental problems and be an example to the rest of the States.” These include his patent to heat and cool homes without burning fossil fuels.

Paul Damian Wells

As a self-proclaimed voting rights activist for 30 years, Wells told Ballotpedia he “first ran as an independent candidate for U.S. Senator in 1992 and was denied ballot access.” Since then, he has registered as a candidate for state office in a major party primary to “protest the exclusion of independent voters.”

Wells is an advocate for ranked-choice voting, an election method that would allow voters to choose candidates based on how aligned they are with their beliefs. He did not respond to KOIN 6 News’ request for a questionnaire, but told Ballotpedia “the era of voting for the lesser of two evils needs to come to an end.”

Republicans

Brent Barker

With a diverse background spanning up and down the West Coast, Barker’s campaign runs on a proposal for what he calls “Oregon’s Organic Voting Measure.” In his questionnaire response to KOIN 6 News, Barker details the proposal by calling for a statewide holiday for all state and federal elections, tax credits to employers that provide paid holidays for their employees, statewide in-person elections with a valid government ID, new registration for mail-in ballots (such as for military and absentee voters), equal observers at all voting stations, hand count tallies, and archives ballots with automatic recounts at 51%.

Dennis Linthicum

A current Oregon Senator for District 28 covering parts of Northeastern Jackson County, Southern Deschutes, and all of Klamath County, Linthicum claims his background as a government official and trained economist “uniquely positions [him] to unlock the full potential” of the Secretary of State’s office.

Linthicum, in his response to a KOIN 6 News questionnaire, said his focus would be on election integrity as well as “departments and agencies that have a statewide impact.” He said he will perform regular audits to “identify areas for improvement, ensure compliance with regulations, and optimize resource allocation.”

Tim McCloud

Citing experience in government, nonprofits, and small business, McCloud hopes to “restore public trust in the elections system; ensuring a system that works for everyone, not just the ‘traditional beneficiaries’ of major party politics.”

In his KOIN 6 News questionnaire response, he shared his opposition to ranked-choice voting, calling it “a co-sponsored attack by the Oregon Legislature on the individual’s freedom to vote for candidates that they choose.” He said his focus would be on building communication between the office and the public to eliminate doubt.

KOIN 6 News is Your Local Election Headquarters. Stay with us as we bring you up-to-date campaign coverage through November’s General Election.