Long-time Oregon companies help State Sen. Betsy Johnson raise $2 million for governor's race

Note: While Betsy Johnson is an independent, the following article includes discussion about Democratic candidates.


Since she launched her independent run for governor a month ago, Betsy Johnson has accomplished two things no other candidate has yet: raising $2 million and securing large contributions from a broad swath of the state’s business community.

The $2.2 million reported in Johnson’s campaign finance account is more than double the $1 million former New York Times columnist Nick Kristof raised for his Democratic campaign with the aid of out-of-state celebrities including Angelina Jolie and Melinda Gates. No other candidate has broken the $1 million mark.

Johnson’s decision to run as an independent unaffiliated with any political party means she won’t face a primary in May. She has to obtain about 24,000 signatures to make it to the general election ballot. She still faces tough odds to win – the only independent to ever win Oregon’s top job took office in the Great Depression.

The Scappoose timber heiress’s largest contribution, $250,000, came from the Papé Group, a logging equipment company based in the Willamette Valley. She also received $150,000 from Global Companies LLC, a Massachusetts-based subsidiary of Global Partners, one of the largest suppliers of gasoline in the northeastern U.S.

Read more: https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2021/11/18/long-time-oregon-companies-pitch-in-to-help-state-sen-betsy-johnson-raise-2-million-for-governors-race/