Oregon’s new governor to be sworn in, discuss her priorities

Liberal Democrat Tina Kotek shall be sworn in as Oregon’s new governor on Monday, ascending to the state’s highest workplace after serving a document 9 years as state Home speaker and changing into one of many first overtly elected lesbian governors within the nation.

In her inaugural handle on the state Capitol in Salem, Kotek is anticipated to pledge to unite Oregonians after a bitterly fought gubernatorial race — the tightest in a decade — during which Republicans sought to interrupt Democrats’ dominance of the state.

Kotek has mentioned her prime priorities shall be housing and homelessness, psychological well being and habit therapy, and schooling.

Oregon has struggled for years to handle a housing scarcity and interwoven homelessness, habit and psychological well being crises. Its homeless inhabitants has elevated by greater than 22% since 2020, in accordance with figures from the U.S. Division of Housing and City Improvement. It additionally has the best drug habit charge of any state and ranks final in entry to psychological well being therapy, in accordance with federal information from the 2021 Nationwide Survey on Drug Use and Well being.

Kotek shall be changing term-limited Democrat Kate Brown, whose strict coronavirus pandemic measures made her a polarizing determine. The 2 labored collectively for years as respective speaker and governor, and so they have comparable profiles as progressives and open members of the LGBTQ group. However Kotek sought to distance herself from Brown — and her low approval rankings — towards the top of the gubernatorial marketing campaign, casting her predecessor as ineffective on homelessness.

Kotek gained Oregon’s three-way race for governor in November after warding off a stiff problem from a fellow former state consultant, Republican Christine Drazan, defeating her by lower than 4 proportion factors.

Kotek was a state consultant from 2006 till 2022, when she resigned to run for governor. Throughout her time within the Legislature, she turned the longest-serving speaker in Oregon historical past after 9 years within the position and cemented her standing as a key participant in state politics, incomes a status for chopping offers and muscling payments by means of the state Home.

As speaker, Kotek spearheaded and handed liberal agendas made potential by Democratic supermajorities, together with the nation’s first statewide lease management legislation. She additionally helped push by means of gun storage legal guidelines, prison justice reform and paid household go away, amongst different measures.

Lawmakers additionally shall be sworn in on Monday. Democrats nonetheless management each chambers of the Legislature, however they misplaced their three-fifths supermajority in November’s election.

Kotek joins Maura Healey of Massachusetts as the primary overtly lesbian elected governors within the nation.

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Claire Rush is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points. Observe Claire on Twitter.