Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek won a second term, beating Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan for the second time in four years. The Associated Press called the race for the Democrat early Wednesday.
Kotek declared victory before the AP call, at the Democratic Party of Oregon’s election night watch party at the Hilton Portland Downtown, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. “Because of your work and support, I am proud to stand here as your next governor of the beautiful state of Oregon,” she told hundreds of supporters. “I hope it’s OK, but we have four more years together.”
“Are you ready to work?” Kotek asked the crowd. “So now, you celebrate, and then rest up, because we have stuff to do together.”
Kotek and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey became the nation’s first openly lesbian elected governors in 2022. “I also came out as a lesbian in my early twenties and it was liberating,” Kotek wrote that year, according to CBS News. “For me, coming out became a personal responsibility to undermine hatred and bigotry,” she wrote.
Tina Kotek’s Record on Gender-Affirming Care
“I want to be very clear. Gender affirming care is health care. Period, end of story,” Kotek said in 2023, when she signed House Bill 2002 after a six-week walkout by Senate Republicans, KOIN reported.
She pitched that law as Oregon’s answer to the fall of Roe v. Wade, widening access to abortion and to gender-affirming care alike. “Everyone in Oregon should be able to access the health care they need to lead healthy and authentic lives,” she said.
This year, Kotek signed legislation expanding Oregon’s shield law for abortion and gender-affirming care providers with House Bill 4088, which also keeps court petitions to change a person’s legal sex confidential, with some exceptions, OPB reported. “Before we expand shield protections, we should understand what is happening to Oregon kids,” Republican Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer argued, according to OPB.
The bill cleared the state Senate in March with 18 Democrats voting yes and 12 Republicans voting no, OPB reported. “Health care decisions should be between patients and their doctors,” Kotek said in a May 14 release celebrating the new law.
Another Kotek-Drazan Rematch in Oregon
Kotek and Drazan first faced each other in 2022. Kotek won that three-way race, which also included unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson, the Capital Chronicle reported.
Drazan told her own supporters in Hillsboro on election night that the race wasn’t over, the Capital Chronicle reported. “Now, all the votes haven’t been counted, and I am continuing to pray for the victory for us,” she said.
Drazan’s Push to Bar Trans Girls From School Sports
“I want to thank President Trump for taking executive action to protect women’s rights and fair competition in women’s sports,” Drazan said in a written statement in February 2025, KPTV reported. Then a state representative, she was rolling out a bill to keep transgender athletes off girls’ teams in Oregon’s K-12 schools.
“I urge our state to take similar action to protect women and comply with Title IX,” she wrote. “We can respect the dignity of every individual without endangering women in sports,” Drazan added.
Blair Stenvick of Basic Rights Oregon, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, told KPTV what being pulled from a girls’ team could mean for a young transgender girl. “That is a very unfortunate and isolating experience,” Stenvick said.
The candidates split the same way in 2022, when Willamette Week asked whether they’d support a ban like Utah’s on transgender athletes in girls’ sports, and Drazan said yes. “I believe in supporting all children to be their authentic selves,” Kotek told the paper.
“While other politicians work to bring harm to the LGBTQ+ community, I’m going to focus on the work that matters: ensuring all Oregonians are safe and protected,” she said.
Abortion Access Became a Debate Flashpoint
At their first debate, held Oct. 1 at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Kotek warned that a Drazan win “would entail banning abortion, cutting the Oregon Health Plan, eliminating vote by mail,” OPB reported.
Asked about abortion access that night, Drazan said she’s pro-life but sees it as a personal issue. “I think people should know that I do not, I do not support banning abortion,” she said.
LGBTQ+ Groups Backed Kotek’s Reelection
“Governor Tina Kotek is a true trailblazer,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement Kotek’s campaign released the day she launched her bid. Robinson credited her with “stopping dangerous Republican efforts to ban LGBTQ+ books in our schools.”
Basic Rights Oregon’s political action committee listed Kotek among its 2026 endorsements. “Our PAC’s goal is to support candidates at the state and local level who are champions for LGBTQ+ equality,” the PAC says on its website.
What a Second Term Means for Kotek
The win gives Kotek another four years in office. Oregon’s constitution limits governors to eight years within any 12-year period. It is not a lifetime eight-year limit.
Follow Gayety’s live LGBTQ+ election results for updates. Our Election Day guide explains the races and ballot measures.
