OREGON
      Nov. 4, 2014 Governor                                    

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+John Kitzhaber (D) i
 		733,230
 		49.89%
Dennis Richardson (R)
 		648,542
 		44.13%
Paul Grad (L) 29,561
 2.01%
Jason Levin (PGP) 21,903
 		1.49%
Aaron Auer (C)
 15,929
 1.08%
Chris Henry (Prog.)
 13,898
 0.95%
Misc.
 		6,654
 		0.45%

1,469,717
Registered voters: 2,174,763.
Plurality: 84,688 votes (5.76 percentage points).
 OR Secretary of State



Notes:  Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) was held to just under 50-percent of the vote but won re-election, defeating state Rep. Dennis Richardson (R) and four third-party candidates.

Kitzhaber started out as an emergency room doctor in Roseburg, and served as state representative, state senator and Senate President.  In 1994 he was elected governor; he served two terms, then was term limited.  In 2010 he was elected governor again, and 2014 marked his bid for an unprecedented fourth term.  Richardson, a Vietnam veteran, worked as an attorney.  He was elected to the Central Point City Council and in 2002 to the State House representing parts of Jackson and Josephine Counties, where he served 12 years.

In the May 20 primaries, Kitzhaber won 89% of the vote.  Richardson tallied 65.86% of the vote against five other candidates, none of whom reached 10%.

Kitzhaber and Richardson debated four times:

July 18 - Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association in Salem.
Sept. 26 - Oregon Association of Broadcasters fall meeting at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver (>).
Oct. 14 - The Oregonian and KGW from KGW studios in Portland (>).
Oct. 20 - KOBI TV NBC5 in Medford (>).

Kitzhaber recalled the "dire straits" of four years earlier, and said that  working together much had been achieved.  Richardson framed the election as a choice between the past and the future, decried lackluster results achieved by Kitzhaber, and also noted the Cover Oregon and Columbia River Crossing "debacles."

After an expose published by the Willamette Week on Oct. 8, the closing weeks of the campaign were filled with controversy, reports and questions about Kitzhaber and his fiancé Cylvia Hayes.  Hayes was working as an a consultant on clean energy and also as an unpaid advisor in the governor's office on the same issues,; further, she had been involved in some questionable doings before she met Kitzhaber.

Postscript
The scandal surrounding Cylvia Hayes' activities did not abate, and Kitzhaber announced on Feb. 13, 2015 that he would resign effective Feb. 18 (>), whereupon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) assumed the office.  In Feb. 2018, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission ruled that Kitzhaber had violated state ethics law, and in March he agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty for the violations.


Campaign Managers:
John Kitzhaber:  Mike Marshall
Campaign manager on Oregon United for Marriage, 2013-14.  Executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, 2008-13.  Principal at Marshall Consulting, Inc., Jan. 2003-Nov. 2008.  Co-founder and executive director of Californians for Civil Marriage, 2000-02.  Campaign manager No on Prop. 22/No on Knight, 1998-2000.  Campaign manager on Calif. Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin's re-election, 1998-99.  Northern California field director for the California Democratic Party, June-Dec. 1996.  Senior program officer for the National Democratic Institute, 1991-96.  National field director on Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, 1990-92.  Deputy field director for the California Democratic Party, 1989-1990.  Special projects director for U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston (CA), Jan. 1987-Aug. 1988.  B.A. in political science and American history from UC San Diego, 1983.

Dennis Richardson:  Charlie Pearce
Campaign manager on Wehby for Senate to June 2014.  Communications director on Winslow for U.S. Senate (MA), 2013.  Trip director on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.  Director of advance on Baker for Governor (Mass.), 2009-10.  National advance coordinator on Romney for President, 2007-08, then lead advance on the McCain campaign.  Scheduler/staff assistant to U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (OH), 2006-07.  Research assistant at the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee.  Originally from Mission Viejo, Calif..
 

See also:
Jeff Mapes.  "One campaign operative's journey through the Monica Wehby and Dennis Richardson campaigns."  The Oregonian, Nov. 15, 2014.

News Team.  "Timeline: Critical Dates in Cylvia Hayes Scandal."  GOLOCALPDX, Oct. 15, 2014.

Oregon Secretary of State: 2014 State Voters' Pamphlets - General Election  |  Primary Election.







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