After giving several million dollars to independent candidate Betsy Johnson, Nike co-founder Phil Knight is now endorsing a second candidate for governor of Oregon. According to the Washington Examiner, Knight gave $1 million to Republican Christine Drazan last week, although his previous gift to a campaign was $3.75 million to Johnson in early September. Drazan and Tina Kotek, the Democratic contender and a former state representative, have been running neck and neck in the polls, with Johnson behind in third.
The FiveThirtyEight polling average shows Drazan leading Kotek by more than two points. However, Drazen’s lead is still within the margin of error. The Cook Political Report revised its rating from “leans Democrat” to “toss-up” in September, leading national Democratic organizations to step up funding for Kotek’s campaign. Drazan is a moderate Republican who served as the minority leader of the Oregon House Republicans when Kotek was the House speaker.
Knight, a native of Oregon, is reportedly the 27th richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately $35.2 billion. In 2018, he supported Republican Knute Buehler for governor of Oregon in 2018, but Buehler fell short against incumbent Gov. Kate Brown. Knight also invested a lot of money in 2009 to defeat ballot initiatives that would have raised taxes on businesses and wealthy people.
Oregon hasn’t seen a Republican governor since 1987, and the potential for the GOP to retake power coincides with Brown’s ranking as one of the least popular governors in the nation. Additionally, Johnson is stealing votes from Kotek and Drazan with a polling percentage of about 19.5%.
