A centrist district attorney candidate in Oregon has ousted his incumbent progressive opponent after running on a tough-on-crime platform.

Nathan Vasquez previously served as a deputy prosecutor to Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt. Vasquez won Tuesday’s nonpartisan primary election after returns showed him receiving more than 50% of the vote.

Vasquez, who was endorsed by several police groups, said Schmidt conceded the election during a Wednesday phone call. He was a prosecutor in the DA’s office for more than 20 years. 

“I want to thank him for his professionalism and service to our community,” Vasquez said in a post on his campaign Facebook page. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the DA’s office, with community partners, and with the public to help build a safer Multnomah County for all of us.”

SUSPECTED PORTLAND SERIAL KILLER HAD TRIED TO CHOKE POLICE K-9, WAS RELEASED FROM PRISON EARLY: REPORT

Schmidt came into office days before the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota and the calls for changes to the criminal justice system that came amid racial justice protests in Portland and other cities nationwide. Other DAs ushered into office in liberal bastions like San Francisco and Seattle around the same time have since faced setbacks amid frustrations from the public over crime.

Generally, those district attorneys have supported finding alternatives to imprisonment and have refrained from prosecuting low-level crimes to reduce incarceration rates and address social inequities in the criminal justice system.

Critics have said such policies enable criminals and public safety risks.  

PORTLAND SERIAL KILLER FEARS: VICTIMS’ PARENTS SPEAK OUT AFTER ‘CAREER CRIMINAL’ NAMED PERSON OF INTEREST

Portland, Ore., right, one of the most reliably blue cities in the U.S., has ousted its incumbent district attorney, Mike Schmidt, left, with a former Republican in Nathan Vasquez [not pictured]. (Getty Images)

Shortly after taking office, racial justice demonstrations gripped Portland as chaos erupted on the streets nearly every night for months. Schmidt announced that his office wouldn’t prosecute protesters unless they were arrested for deliberate property damage, theft, or the use or threat of force against another person. Interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass were cited as examples of cases his office would decline.

Vasquez announced the policy, as well as Schmidt’s support for a 2020 voter-approved measure that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs. Earlier this year, state lawmakers rolled back the law and restored criminal penalties for so-called “personal use” possession amid one of the nation’s largest spikes in overdose fatalities. 

Schmidt supported the move. 

A person drops off their vote-by-mail ballot at a dropbox in Pioneer Square during primary voting in Portland, Ore.  (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

In his message, Vasquez said he was “committed to ending open-air drug dealing and drug use while helping connect individuals to treatment, to rebuilding the broken relationships between the DA’s office and the community, and to ensuring that victims are the number one priority of my office.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Schmidt’s campaign. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three of Oregon’s largest school districts had measures on the May ballot to either establish or renew levies in their communities.

Portland Public and Eugene appeared to have gotten a “yes” from voters. But others weren’t so lucky.

According to initial results this week, voters in the Bend-La Pine School District are rejecting a new tax levy that district leaders say is needed to maintain class sizes and staffing, add career technical education programs and more.

Bend-La Pine administrators warned voters before the election that if the levy didn’t pass, they’d have to eliminate up to 180 positions over the next two years, and average class sizes would likely increase by four students. They said counseling and support services would be stretched thin, and there would be a 30% reduction in building budgets.

Scott Maben, director of communications for the district, told OPB it’s too early to say if the school board will go back to voters any time soon.

“Superintendent [Steven] Cook will discuss the outcome of this election with the board at an upcoming board meeting,” he wrote in an email Wednesday, “possibly June 18.”

Maben said the district needs time to analyze the results of the election and listen to feedback from voters who did not support the levy request. He said there may be a variety of reasons it didn’t pass, and they want to look into that closely.

However, he acknowledged it wasn’t close. Results as of Wednesday morning showed about 57% of the votes cast were in opposition.

“That’s a clear message that voters are not in favor of adding a local option levy in our district at this time,” Maben said. “We certainly are disappointed in these results, as we believe the priorities we had identified for levy funding are important and deserving of additional investment.”

Local taxes have become a key source of funding for many Oregon schools. That’s especially important this year as districts across the region face tens of millions of dollars in budget deficits. Educators are losing their jobs, and in some cases, entire schools or districts are at risk of being closed.

It’s often easier for districts to renew existing levies — such as those in Portland and Eugene — than to introduce a new tax. In some parts of the state, passing taxes to support schools may fail repeatedly before a district is able to win the support of a majority of voters, as happened in the small Gervais district this election.

Maben said leaders in Bend-La Pine are also focusing their efforts on securing adequate state funding for the 2025-27 biennium.

“We are already deeply engaged in communicating with state leaders regarding the challenges of meeting the needs of our students with the current state of education funding in Oregon,” he wrote. “We will intensify these efforts as we approach the next legislative session.”

Maben said the future financial difficulties caused by the failed levy are separate from current budget conversations.

The school district has already built its proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year, which, like many districts across the state, reduces staffing and other spending. That budget will go to the school board next month for final approval.

The budget for the upcoming school year eliminates close to 60 positions across the district by eliminating vacant positions — rather than through layoffs. Maben said additional cuts may be necessary for the following 2025-26 school year as a result of the vote, but those conversations will be part of the budget process starting next January.

• 13 liberal Oregon counties support moving to Conservative Idaho
• Crook County became latest to approve Greater Idaho Measures on Tuesday
• Supporters want to escape progressive politics and high taxes  

By Bethan Sexton For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:30 BST, 22 May 2024 | Updated: 17:28 BST, 22 May 2024

Thirteen fed-up counties in liberal Oregon have voted in support of measures to start negotiations to secede from the state and join conservative Idaho.

Crook County became the latest to approve the ‘Greater Idaho Measure’ following a vote on Tuesday.

The proposal seeks to move the Oregon border 200 miles to the west, meaning that 14 counties and several partial counties would fall under Idaho state lines.

Organizers behind the Greater Idaho movement say east Oregonians are being alienated by the state’s progressive policies which they blame for high crime rates.

They claim a move to Idaho would allow residents to take advantage of lower taxation and provide better representation and governance.

Advertisement

More than a dozen fed-up liberal counties in eastern Oregon have voted in support of measures to start negotiations to secede from the state and join conservative Idaho 

 ‘The Oregon/Idaho line was established 163 years ago and is now outdated,’ the movement’s website states.

‘It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn’t match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon.

‘We want an economy that is not held back by Oregon regulations and taxes, including environmental regulations. 

‘We’ll still have federal and Idaho regulations, and that’s plenty. Idaho knows how to respect rural counties and their livelihoods.’

Measure 7-86, as it was known, passed by 53 percent in Crook County in the latest boost to the Greater Idaho campaign.

Advertisement

However, the vote is not legislatively binding and just means residents are in favor of informing state and federal representatives that they support negotiations to annex part of Oregon.

‘The voters of eastern Oregon have spoken loudly and clearly about their desire to see border talks move forward,’ Greater Idaho Executive Director Matt McCaw said.

 ‘With this latest result in Crook County, there’s no excuse left for the Legislature and Governor to continue to ignore the people’s wishes.

The proposal, pictured, seeks to move the Oregon border 200 miles to the west, meaning that 14 counties and several partial counties would fall under Idaho state lines

Organizers behind the Greater Idaho movement say east Oregonians are being alienated by the state’s progressive policies, which they blame for high crime rates

‘We call on the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate President to sit down with us and discuss next steps towards changing governance for eastern Oregonians, as well as for the legislature to begin holding hearings on what a potential border change will look like.’

‘For the last three years we’ve been going directly to voters and asking them what they want for their state government,’ President Mike Carter added. 

Advertisement

‘What they’re telling us through these votes is that they want their leaders to move the border. 

‘In our system, the people are the ones in charge, and it’s time for the leaders representing them to follow through.’

The last time the Oregon state line was moved was 1958, although it was a minor adjustment.

According to NewsNation, a recent poll found that people in Idaho also strongly support the proposal.

Similar schemes have been proposed elsewhere in the country, including in Texas where last year a state senator introduced a bill to allow for a vote on Texit.

Advertisement

Crook County became the 13th to approve the Greater Idaho Measure following a vote on Tuesday

Within the state itself, the wealthy Austin enclave of Lost Creek, saw an overwhelming majority of 91 percent of residents vote to break away from the city during a May 4 election. 

Meanwhile, several counties in Illinois have previously voted to move to another state and parts of Colorado have expressed interest in joining Wyoming. 

Last year Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor-Green tweeted that the US needed a ‘divorce’ between blue and red states.