The leadup to the 2022 General Election was filled with uncertainty, but resulted in key victories for SEIU 503 members up and down the ballot. These wins put us in a position to bargain for good contracts next year and have state leadership that supports working families. All of our endorsements and political activity is driven by our members, as were the victories in this election. You can scroll down this page to see how all our endorsed candidates fared on election day. Here are some highlights:
With 90%+ of our members bargaining next year, there was no bigger race for our union than Oregon governor. A corporate-backed candidate tried to play spoiler and help Oregon elect an anti-worker governor for the first time in decades, but voters didn’t fall for it. Tina Kotek handily won by 4 percentage points. SEIU was a big reason why. In the final 10 days before the election, we knocked over 50,000 doors and called nearly 53,000 voters, speaking to voters in English and Spanish. Our work in the cold and through an atmospheric river played a key role in helping Tina Kotek and other pro-worker champions get elected.
Billionaires and corporations tried to capitalize on a state ravaged by 2.5 years+ of a pandemic, a rise in crime in certain areas, and record inflation to take control of our state. Nike founder Phil Knight alone spent over $5 million trying to defeat Tina Kotek and another $2 million attempting to take over our legislature. His money was no match for our members!
We maintained key seats in tough races like SEIU member Senator Deb Patterson and helped Mark Meek win the most expensive race in Oregon legislative history. Those wins mean a legislature that can work with Governor Kotek to enact a pro-worker agenda that centers our state’s recovery on working families. Thanks to everyone who made a phone call, knocked on a door, sent a text, or donated to our voluntary political action committee, CAPE. We made a difference for our members and all Oregonians.
Here are the outcomes for candidates and ballot measures endorsed by our members. Candidates in green were successful, and candidates in red did not win their race.
Oregon Governor
Tina Kotek
Oregon Labor Commissioner
Christina Stephenson
Oregon Senate
Jeff Golden (SD 3)
Floyd Prozanski (SD 4)
James Manning (SD 7)
Sara Gelser-Blouin (SD 8)
Deb Patterson (SD 10)
Rich Walsh (SD 11)
Aaron Woods (SD 13)
Janeen Sollman (SD 15)
Melissa Busch (SD 16)
Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (SD 17)
Wlnsvey Campos (SD 18)
Rob Wagner (SD 19)
Mark Meek (SD 20)
Kayse Jama (SD 24)
Raz Mason (SD 26)
Oregon House
Pam Marsh (HD 5)
John Lively (HD 7)
Paul Holvey (HD 8)
David Gomberg (HD 10)
Nancy Nathanson (HD 13)
Julie Fahey (HD 14)
Dan Rayfield (HD 16)
Tom Andersen (HD 19)
Paul Evans (HD 20)
RJ Navarro (HD 21)
Anthony Medina (HD 22)
Ben Bowman (HD 25)
Courtney Neron (HD 26)
Ken Helm (HD 27)
Dacia Grayber (HD 28)
Susan McLain (HD 29)
Nathan Sosa (HD 30)
Logan Laity (HD 32)
Maxine Dexter (HD 33)
Lisa Reynolds (HD 34)
Farrah Chaichi (HD 35)
Hai Pham (HD 36)
Jules Walters (HD 37)
Danielle Nguyen (HD 38)
Janelle Bynum (HD 39)
Annessa Hartman (HD 40)
Mark Gamba (HD 41)
Rob Nosse (HD 42)
Tawna Sanchez (HD 43)
Travis Nelson (HD 44)
Thuy Tran (HD 45)
Khanh Pham (HD 46)
Andrea Valderrama (HD 47)
Hoa Nguyen (HD 48)
Zach Hudson (HD 49)
Ricki Ruiz (HD 50)
Darcy Long (HD 52)
Emerson Levy (HD 53)
Jason Kropf (HD 54)
U.S. Senate
Ron Wyden
U.S. House
Suzanne Bonamici (CD 1)
Earl Blumenauer (CD 3)
Val Hoyle (CD 4)
Jamie McLeod-Skinner (CD 5)
Andrea Salinas (CD 6)
Local Races
Dawn Lesley (Lane County Commission)
Jessica Vega Pederson (Multnomah County Chair)
Jo Ann Hardesty (Portland City Commissioner)
Dynee Medlock (Salem City Council)
Ballot Measures
Measure 111 (Recognizes Health Care as a Right)
Measure 112 (Removes Slavery from Oregon’s Constitution)
Measure 113 (Legislator Accountability)