Christine Drazan

Christine Drazan
Drazan in 2022
Member of the Oregon Senate
from the 26th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 23, 2025
Preceded byDaniel Bonham
Minority Leader of the Oregon House of Representatives
In office
January 13, 2025 – October 1, 2025
Preceded byJeff Helfrich
Succeeded byLucetta Elmer
In office
September 16, 2019 – November 30, 2021
Preceded byCarl Wilson
Succeeded byVikki Breese-Iverson
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives
In office
January 13, 2025 – October 23, 2025
Preceded byJames Hieb
Succeeded byMatt Bunch
Constituency51st district
In office
January 14, 2019 – January 31, 2022
Preceded byBill Kennemer
Succeeded byJames Hieb
Constituency39th district
Personal details
BornChristine Renee Deboy
1972 (age 53–54)
Klamath Falls, Oregon, U.S.
PartyRepublican
SpouseDaniel Drazan
Children3
EducationGeorge Fox University (BA)
Signature
Drazan's voice
Drazan on the 80th Oregon Legislative Assembly.
Recorded August 22, 2019

Christine Renee Drazan (née Deboy, born 1972)[1] is an American politician who is serving in the Oregon State Senate from the 26th district. She previously served in the Oregon House of Representatives representing the 39th district from 2019 to 2022, and the 51st district in 2025. During that tenure she was minority leader from 2019 to 2021, as well as in 2025. She is a member of the Republican Party. Drazan was the party's nominee in the 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election, losing to Democrat Tina Kotek.

During her tenure as minority leader, she engaged in various parliamentary tactics to thwart legislation supported by the Democratic majority.

Drazan was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and educated at Eagle Point High School and George Fox University. During the 1990s she worked for Speaker Mark Simmons. She was elected to the state house in 2018 and reelected in 2020.

Early life and education

Christine Renee Deboy was born to Perrliee and Dale E. Deboy in Klamath Falls, Oregon. She graduated from Eagle Point High School and George Fox University. She worked as the director of communications for Mark Simmons, the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, in the 1990s. She married Daniel Joseph Drazan on May 17, 1997, with whom she has three children.[2][3][4]

Drazan is Christian.[5]

Career

Oregon Legislative Assembly

Elections

Bill Kennemer, a Republican member of the state house from the 39th district, retired during the 2018 election cycle. Drazan defeated John Lee, Seth Rydmark, and Ken Kraft for the Republican nomination and defeated Democratic nominee Elizabeth Graser-Lindsey in the general election.[6][7][8] She defeated Democratic nominee Tessah Danel and Libertarian nominee Kenny Sernach in the 2020 election.[9][10]

On March 5, 2024, Drazan announced that she would seek the Republican nomination in the 51st district, which became her home district after the 2020 redistricting cycle.[11] Drazan defeated incumbent James Hieb, who replaced her when she resigned from the house in 2020, after raising $169,000 compared to Hieb's $19,000.[12] She ran unopposed in the general election.[13]

Daniel Bonham, the Minority Leader in the Oregon State Senate and member from the 26th district, resigned in 2025 to take a position within President Donald Trump's administration. Bonham endorsed Drazan to be selected as his replacement. 18 commissioners from Clackamas, Multnomah, Wasco, and Hood River assembled to select a replacement on October 23. Drazan, state representative Jeff Helfrich, and chair of the Wasco County Republican Party John Grant competed for the nomination. The commissioners voted 11 to 7 in favor of Jeff Helfrich against Drazan, but Drazan won as all of the commissioners from Clackamas, whose votes were weighted more heavily due to population distribution, supported her.[14]

Tenure

During Drazan's tenure in the state house she served on the Healthcare committee.[15] Drazan was selected to replace Carl Wilson as the Minority Leader on September 16, 2019, and served until she was replaced by Vikki Breese-Iverson on November 30, 2021.[16][17][18] In 2024, she was selected to succeed Jeff Helfrich as Minority Leader.[19]

During Drazan's time as Minority Leader, the Republicans refused to attend legislative meetings in order to deny a quorum so that legislation could not be passed.[20][21] Drazan participated in these quorum denials and even left the state to further them in the 2020 legislative session.[22] She also forced the verbatim readings of the entirety of legislation on the floor of the House as a delay tactic.[23]

Drazan was appointed to the six-member committee to redraw the districts following the 2020 United States census with equal representation from the Democratic and Republican parties as a compromise created to have the Republicans stop using delaying tactics against legislation.[24][25] Speaker Tina Kotek later reversed her decision and restored the Democratic majority on the committee redrawing the congressional districts.[26][27] She made a motion for Kotek to be censured due to this, but it failed with thirty-three representatives voting against and fourteen voting in favor.[28]

Gubernatorial campaigns

One of Drazan's aides stated on November 23, 2021 that she was going to run for the Republican nomination in the 2022 gubernatorial election.[29] She announced her campaign on January 4, 2022 and resigned from the state house on January 31, where her seat was filled by appointment by Hieb.[30][31][32] Trey Rosser was her campaign manager.[33] She won in the Republican primary against eighteen other candidates with 23% of the vote.[34] During 2022 her campaign raised $2,101,788.27 and spent $2,542,604.18.[35] She lost the election to former Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Tina Kotek.

A Republican fundraising platform in August 2025 listed Drazan as a candidate for governor despite her not making an announcement. One week after being appointed to the state Senate, Drazan announced on October 27, 2025 that she would run for governor in the 2026 election.[36]

Political positions

Drazan opposed emissions trading legislation in 2020, and demanded a referendum on the legislation.[37][38] She supports the usage of an independent redistricting commission for redrawing districts.[39] She opposed a COVID-19 vaccination mandate.[40] Drazan opposes allowing transgender athletes to participate in gender-specific sporting events.[41] Drazan does not support Donald Trump's claims of having won the 2020 presidential election and stated that "Donald Trump did not win. Joe Biden did. He is our president".[42]

Drazan received a lifetime score of 20% from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.[43] She was endorsed by Oregon Right to Life during the 2022 election.[44] She opposed Measure 114 and received an "A" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund.[45][46]

Electoral history

2018 Oregon House of Representatives 39th district election[7][8]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Christine Drazan 2,640 39.46%
Republican John Lee 1,901 28.42%
Republican Seth Rydmark 1,072 16.02%
Republican Ken Kraft 1,053 15.74%
Write-in 24 0.36%
Total votes 6,690 100.00%
General election
Republican Christine Drazan 19,732 59.07%
Democratic Elizabeth Graser-Lindsey 13,611 40.74%
Write-in 63 0.19%
Total votes 33,406 100.00%
2020 Oregon House of Representatives 39th district election[9][10]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Christine Drazan (incumbent) 7,560 99.28%
Write-in 55 0.72%
Total votes 7,615 100.00%
General election
Republican Christine Drazan (incumbent) 26,202 62.22%
Democratic Tessah Danel 14,985 35.58%
Libertarian Kenny Sernach 868 2.06%
Write-in 57 0.14%
Total votes 42,112 100.00%
2022 Oregon gubernatorial Republican primary[47]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Christine Drazan 85,255 22.5%
Republican Bob Tiernan 66,089 17.5%
Republican Stan Pulliam 41,123 10.9%
Republican Bridget Barton 40,886 10.8%
Republican Bud Pierce 32,965 8.7%
Republican Marc Thielman 30,076 8.0%
Republican Kerry McQuisten 28,727 7.6%
Republican Bill Sizemore 13,261 3.5%
Republican Jessica Gomez 9,970 2.6%
Republican Tim McCloud 4,400 1.2%
Republican Nick Hess 4,287 1.1%
Republican Court Boice 4,040 1.1%
Republican Brandon Merritt 3,615 1.0%
Republican Reed Christensen 3,042 0.8%
Republican Amber Richardson 1,924 0.5%
Republican Raymond Baldwin 459 0.1%
Republican David Burch 406 0.1%
Republican John Presco 174 0.0%
Republican Stefan Strek 171 0.0%
Write-in 7,407 2.0%
Total votes 378,277 100.0%
2022 Oregon gubernatorial election[48]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Tina Kotek 916,635 46.9% −3.09%
Republican Christine Drazan 849,853 43.5% −0.11%
Independent Betsy Johnson 168,363 8.6% N/A
Constitution Donice Noelle Smith 8,047 0.4% −0.72%
Libertarian R. Leon Noble 6,862 0.3% −1.20%
Write-in 2,113 0.1% -0.05
Total votes 1,951,873 100.0%
2024 Oregon State Representative 51st district election[49][50]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Christine Drazan 6,142 68.4
Republican James Hieb (incumbent) 2,824 31.4
Write-in 7 0.1
Total votes 8,973 100.0
General election
Republican Christine Drazan 27,872 94.1
Write-in 1,737 5.9
Total votes 29,609 100.0

References

  1. ^ https://www.legistorm.com/person/bio/313166/Christine_Drazan.html
  2. ^ "Deboy - Drazan". Statesman Journal. March 24, 1997. p. 24. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Know Your Candidates 2022: Christine Drazan (R), running for Oregon governor". KATU (TV). April 20, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  4. ^ "Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidates hope 2022 puts an end to 40-year losing streak". Oregon Public Broadcasting. April 13, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  5. ^ "VOTE 2022: Drazan stands alone in anti-abortion views". 21 October 2022. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  6. ^ Wohler, Kristen (February 13, 2018). "Canby Republican Christine Drazan runs for House District 39". Canby Herald. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "2018 Oregon primary results". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  8. ^ a b "2018 Oregon election results". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 2022-05-21. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  9. ^ a b "2020 Oregon primary results" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  10. ^ a b "2020 Oregon election results" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 4, 2020.
  11. ^ Jaquiss, Nigel (March 5, 2024). "Christine Drazan Will Seek Return to the Oregon House". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on November 1, 2025.
  12. ^ Fuentes, Carlos (May 21, 2024). "Christine Drazan wins bid to return to Oregon House". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on November 1, 2025.
  13. ^ "2024 Oregon election results" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 5, 2025.
  14. ^ Dole, Bryce; VanderHart, Dirk (October 23, 2025). "Republican Christine Drazan appointed to Oregon Senate". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on October 25, 2025.
  15. ^ Zimmerman, Sarah (February 22, 2019). "Lawmakers demoted for rude behavior". Corvallis Gazette-Times. p. A6. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Freshman Christine Drazan replaces Carl Wilson as House Republican leader". Salem Reporter. September 17, 2019. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  17. ^ "House Republicans head into 2020 with New Caucus Leader" (PDF). Oregon House of Representatives Republican Caucus. September 16, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 21, 2022.
  18. ^ "Representative Drazan steps down from House Republican leadership, Representative Breese-Iverson selected as new Caucus Leader" (PDF). Oregon House of Representatives Republican Caucus. November 30, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 2, 2022.
  19. ^ Terry, Lynne; Shumway, Julia (November 19, 2024). "Oregon House Republicans bring back Christine Drazan as leader". States Newsroom. Archived from the original on November 1, 2025.
  20. ^ Radnovich, Connor (February 19, 2020). "House Republicans deny quorum for floor session". Statesman Journal. p. A2. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Roberts, David (February 29, 2020). "Oregon Republicans are subverting democracy by running away. Again". Vox. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  22. ^ "Walkout". Corvallis Gazette-Times. February 27, 2020. p. A4. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ Warner, Gary A. (March 31, 2021). "Oregon GOP won't delay budget bills". Corvallis Gazette-Times. p. A3. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Redistricting". Albany Democrat-Herald. April 16, 2021. p. A4. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ VanderHart, Dirk (April 16, 2021). "It's a gamble': Lawmakers reach deal to end delay tactics". Statesman Journal. p. A1. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Jaquiss, Nigel (March 30, 2022). "Tina Kotek Is Accomplished—and Struggles to Gain Traction With Some Democrats. Why?". Willamette Week. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  27. ^ "Oregon Supreme Court Dismisses Two Challenges to New Legislative Map". Willamette Week. November 22, 2021. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  28. ^ "Special session drama could hamper Dems' 2022 agenda". Corvallis Gazette-Times. October 2, 2021. p. A4. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "House Republican Leader Christine Drazan to launch bid for Oregon governor". Oregon Public Broadcasting. November 23, 2021. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  30. ^ "Former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan is resigning from Legislature". Oregon Public Broadcasting. January 21, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  31. ^ "GOP legislative leader makes governor run official". Albany Democrat-Herald. January 8, 2022. p. A2. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ "James Hieb appointed to Oregon House District 39 vacancy". Portland Tribune. February 7, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  33. ^ "Murmurs: Oregon Leaders Decry Supreme Court Abortion Draft". Willamette Week. May 4, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  34. ^ "After winning GOP nod for governor, Christine Drazan says values will unite her party". Oregon Public Broadcasting. May 19, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  35. ^ "Christine Drazan Account Summary". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on May 27, 2022.
  36. ^ Dole, Bryce (October 27, 2025). "Christine Drazan is running for Oregon governor again". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on October 28, 2025.
  37. ^ "Democrats: State climate bill a priority". Corvallis Gazette-Times. January 18, 2020. p. A6. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  38. ^ "Oregon Legislature crashes over climate". Albany Democrat-Herald. March 7, 2020. p. A6. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ "Redistricting". Albany Democrat-Herald. April 10, 2021. p. A3. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ "Masks". Corvallis Gazette-Times. August 12, 2021. p. A3. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  41. ^ "We Asked Candidates: Should Transgender Athletes Be Barred From Girls Sports?". Willamette Week. April 7, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  42. ^ "As Republican Christine Drazan runs for Oregon governor, she's walking a careful line on the ticket of a party that's embraced election denial nationally — and locally". The Oregonian. October 27, 2022. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022.
  43. ^ "Christine Drazan OLCV Score". League of Conservation Voters. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  44. ^ "Oregon Right to Life Excluded Mayor Stan Pulliam From Its Endorsements". Willamette Week. March 11, 2022. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022.
  45. ^ "Oregon gubernatorial candidates clash over guns, abortion". AP NEWS. 2022-09-27. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  46. ^ NRA-PVF. "NRA-PVF | Grades | Oregon". NRA-PVF. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  47. ^ "May 17, 2022, Primary Election Abstract of Votes" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 31, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  48. ^ "2022 General Election Unofficial Results". Oregon Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  49. ^ "May 21, 2024 Primary Election Abstract of Votes" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved 23 March 2025.
  50. ^ "November 5, 2024, General Election Abstract of Votes" (PDF). Oregon Secretary of State. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Drazan