- From the PRAx Center on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, it's "OPB Politics Now" for Tuesday, October 20th.

Welcome to the podcast.

I'm OPB Politics editor, Andrew Theen, and a big thanks to our great audience for showing up tonight.

(audience clapping) We've got a great show for you.

It's only fitting since we're on a beautiful college campus that we take a deep dive into the nuts and bolts of Oregon's education system and outline just how it came to pass that the Beaver State is one of the worst performing states in the nation when it comes to education.

OPB education reporter, Elizabeth Miller, will explain it all for us.

Plus, we'll dive deep into just how the top two candidates for governor are viewing things.

Liz and OPB Politics reporters Dirk VanderHart and Lauren Dake will discuss education and the governor's race.

We're also going to get the low down from two Daily Barometer reporters on what us old farts don't understand right now.

I'm sure it's going to be a lot.

But first, we are going to start the show with our friend Rebecca Hansen White from KLCC in Eugene.

Rebecca, thanks so much for being here.

- Thanks for having me.

- You made the arduous journey from Eugene all the way up.

How many miles?

Something like 40, 50 miles, something like that.

- I think, yeah, 45 maybe, at least from my house.

- Well, we are so pleased you're here.

We spent a lot of time on our podcast in recent years talking about specific congressional races.

You know, in 2024, there was a lot of talk about Oregon's fifth congressional district.

This year, we're talking about Washington's third congressional district a lot.

That's Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

It's a lot, but we haven't spent as much time talking about the fourth district, a district that's near and dear to you and to our audience here.

It's a slightly different map than the one that Peter DeFazio represented for decades.

Just kind of remind us, what is the fourth?

Who represents it?

Lay it out for us.

- Yeah, so the fourth congressional district, we're there right now.

It stretches from Lincoln City all the way down to the California border.

It includes Eugene, Springfield, and a lot of rural, very like forested areas.

It used to have a little bit more of Southern Oregon, and I think that's kind of what changed a little bit when we had the redistricting.

So we've just got a little bit of Roseburg also.

And who represented it for decades was Peter DeFazio, a name I'm sure many of you know.

And since 2022, Val Hoyle, who is from Springfield, has represented it.

That's when she won a race that, you know I feel like was, you know, when you look at polling and political reporting at the time, it seemed close.

And since then, the district has been kind of rated more and more Democrat.

- In that first race, obviously she was running against a Republican in Alek Skarlatos, who was really well known for heroic actions on a French high speed train, right?

- Yes, yes.

I think he saved people from like a terrorist attack.

And so I think was well known for that and, you know, did face her in that race.

She ended up winning.

She won again two years ago, which I covered that race as well against an Air Force veteran, Monique DeSpain.

And I think, you know, she's known as, you might know her previous work as Oregon's labor commissioner.

So, you know, the Bureau of Labor of Industries, an agency that if you want wage theft taken care of, she was the person who, you know, led that agency and then was a state lawmaker for a long time.

So I think was kind of a known quantity in Oregon for many years before running for Congress.

- Yeah, and as you mentioned, she's seeking a third term.

She's been in the minority the entire time that she's been in Congress.

We were talking backstage about DeFazio.

I was reading a profile as he left, you know, his decades long career and he described, you know, the fact that Hoyle is gonna be in the minority.

And she said, "That's all right, I'm Irish.

I like to fight."

(audience laughing) So does that resonate with you, that experience or that quote, I guess, when you think of her tenure so far?

- Yeah, when you meet her, I think one of the things that she will say often is, "I'm a workhorse, not a show horse."

And so I think she has been, you know, in her view, kind of plugging away in the minority for several years, partnering with the Republicans who are willing to work with her and, you know, co-sponsoring, you know, the house version of a bill that maybe Senator Merkley or Senator Wyden will, you know, have in the Senate.

You know, she has a few, I think, notable legislative accomplishments that she's either worked on or, you know, helped out with.

I think the one that stood out as a big deal at the time, it was a couple years ago, you know, a bill that she was you know, a prime sponsor on, to restore subsistence rights to the Siletz tribe.

And that was a very big deal if you understand how, you know, the history of the federal government's relations with tribes to get recognition.

They, you know, took those rights away from them.

And so she was a part of that legislation to get those rights restored so they can gather food, hunt and fish on their own lands.

And so I think that's something.

She also had legislation that she worked on that made it into the 21st century Road to Housing Act, which was a very big deal.

You know, she'd had housing bills that just weren't going anywhere.

And I think there were a lot of different pieces of bills a lot of different lawmakers worked on that ended up in that final version.

And so, you know, when I talked to her about her to sort of say, "What have you been doing in Congress for the last two years?"

Those were some of the things that she pointed me towards.

And, you know, the one thing that every congressional office tries to do, which is bring back money-- - Right.

- For the district, for, you know, the project in Coos Bay and various different, you know, housing things to try to bring resources back to the district.

- This is a rematch, this race on the ballot.

You talked a little bit about Monique DeSpain, but can you remind us who she is and is she campaigning any differently this go around?

- Yeah, so Monique DeSpain is an Air Force veteran.

She spent 30 years in the Air Force, to the rank of Colonel, as a JAG officer, so a judicial advocate.

And then in the private sector, she's worked for different law firms and political linked like law work such as for Common Cause Oregon and the Law Office of Kevin Mannix.

And so she is very focused.

I think this time around and last time around, you know, she kind of saw herself as the most pro free market candidate, the most pro public safety candidate and border security, and the only one that was serious about, you know, fraud, waste and abuse.

And a lot of her political ads have been focused on her opponent.

And when I've, you know, had her on the stage at different, you know, forums that I've moderated with the both of them, she's very focused on, you know, missteps that she has seen that Val Hoyle has made when she was labor commissioner, that Hoyle has had problems with big backlogs on wage theft cases, including when, you know, Val led the agency-- - Right.

- And issues with, there was a controversy where the owner of a cannabis company was just invited, or indicted, excuse me, for tax fraud.

- Yes.

- And she donated to a lot of democratic campaigns, including Val Hoyle's.

- This is La Mota, right?

- Yes, La Mota.

- Which is in the headlines, obviously.

Shemia Fagan.

- Yes.

- Former Secretary of State, well known to her.

- Yes.

And so Val Hoyle returned those contributions, but for many years, Monique DeSpain made a website about it.

It's a focus of many of her ads where she kind of sees her as, she frequently calls her a corrupt career politician.

And that is, you know, one of the main focuses both now and two years ago, is this kind of bitter kind of attacks between the two of them where, you know, Val Hoyle will say, "The reason she keeps attacking me on these is because she, you know, has never held public office and she doesn't really have a record to speak on."

So that is why she's focused on, you know, these controversies that, you know, Hoyle has been near or attached to.

- And this race is unusual in some respects because there's a third party candidate who is also part of the race in 2024.

Can you tell us a little bit about how that's affected the race and just the dynamic there?

- Yeah, I had all three of them on stage in Eugene at our city club, Eugene City Club on Friday.

And, you know, I think that when I've asked him what he sees as-- - This is Justin Justin Filip, right?

- Justin Filip, sorry.

His name is Justin Filip.

And when I've asked him sort of what he sees his role in the race is someone who is gonna force them to have hard conversations.

So this is the second time.

So this is a rematch actually between all three of them.

- Okay.

- The first time he ran for Congress, he was very focused on Palestine and felt like neither candidate was really speaking out on it.

And, you know, I think at these forums, Val Hoyle did talk more about Palestine, which I think he saw as a success.

And then this time around, you know, he's very focused on homelessness and was trying to get the candidates to have more conversations about criminalizing people who, you know, are living outside and, you know, focusing on policy that punishes instead of helps people.

So I think his goal in this race is to try to get the candidates to talk about things that they might not normally want to.

- We talked about this when we were first setting up this event a while back, like a month ago, or I don't know what time is.

It might of been two months ago, but you were mentioning that the governor's race has actually kind of been a factor in some respects or is being brought up in this race.

Can you just tell us how that's playing out?

- Yeah, so I think that anytime you have, for example, an unpopular president, you know, Democrats will try to tie you know, the Republican they're facing to an unpopular, you know, the policies that people don't like.

And so, you know, Val Hoyle has tried to do that with Monique DeSpain and Monique DeSpain has tried to do that with Tina Kotek.

You know, there's polling that OPB has done that has shown a lot of people in Oregon feel the state is going in the wrong direction.

And so what Monique DeSpain has said is you know, Val Hoyle was a statewide elected official.

She was in the legislature.

She's partially responsible for this wrong direction that Oregonians feel like our state is going in.

And if you want it to be different, you know, don't just change Tina Kotek, you know, change who's in Congress representing you.

And so I've seen that in a lot of ads as, you know, both of them pairing, you know, a vote for Monique DeSpain is a vote for Donald Trump, and a vote for Val Hoyle is a vote for Tina Kotek.

- Okay.

Any other dynamics in this race that have stood out to you or that we haven't talked about?

- I think AI has been a factor in this race.

You know, in the primary, Val Hoyle, there were independent expenditures, which, you know, the FEC, it's not money that a candidate controls or coordinates from a AI linked PAC that was linked to Anthropic and OpenAI.

It was about 300K spent in the pro side to create a pretty generic ad in support of Val Hoyle.

And so Monique DeSpain has kind of taken that in that "You're funded by big tech.

You're big tech's favorite candidate."

And, you know, when I asked them, "Sure, okay, but what is each of your positions on AI?"

And so, you know, when I asked Monique DeSpain that, you know, she's kind of said, "Well, it should be in local hands."

And when you ask what does that mean, it doesn't really get much more specific than that of just it should be local decision making.

And when I asked Val Hoyle, what she brought up to me is Pope Leo's, you know, kind of treatise on AI is that we need guardrails to protect people and to protect people from, you know, environmental impacts, but also job layoff impacts.

But I haven't really seen any specific legislation yet, but also, you know, I think that Congress is pretty overall behind on AI.

And when I asked Justin Filip about that, he says we should ban data centers-- - Yeah.

- Nationwide.

So I think that's sort of where I've seen when I asked the candidates where they're at on that issue.

- Wide range of opinions, right?

And we're all kind of seeing this play out in real time as we're trying to adjust as a society to this.

But kind of a pivot to other things that you're watching.

There's a local measure in Eugene that's pretty interesting.

Your colleague Nathan Wilk has reported on this clean energy measure.

It's inspired by Portland's measure that was passed by voters, I believe back in 2018.

Can you just talk about what the Eugene measure is and how that's playing out on the ballot?

- Yeah, so it's a 2% fee on corporate profits over a billion dollars.

And so there is a group of very, you know, excited like young climate activists that are supporting this.

I've had people knock on my door and offer to educate me about the Eugene Clean Energy Fund.

You know, very week my mailbox is full of mailers.

So there's a very pro-excited group that, you know, is kind of saying it didn't destroy Portland's economy, so it'll probably work out for us.

And they view it as a way to, you know, fund some of the climate priorities that our city is interested in, but, you know, has been in budget crisis for several years now of this is the way we get dedicated funding for, you know, making sure that people have access to heat pumps, because there's a lot of old houses in Eugene-- - Right.

- That just are not retrofitted, or maybe we can invest in solar or other things.

And the opponents of this have been calling it like a hidden tax and are saying, you know, the economy's in a pretty rough place right now, especially in Eugene where we have problems attracting businesses and jobs.

You know, I don't really think that's gonna make that situation any better.

And, you know, I really view it as something else that's gonna raise prices.

- Okay.

Well, in Portland, it's become the, kind of the piggy bank that all the Portland city councilors are trying to raid, right?

Because it's this dedicated massive amount of money.

- That's another concern of, you know, we don't have a Moda center, but, you know, whatever the Eugene version of that is, is gonna be rated to go to that?

- Okay.

Well, enough about Eugene.

We are in Corvallis.

(audience laughing) Apologies.

(audience clapping) Are there any local Corvallis races that KLCC is tracking or that we should touch on today?

- Yeah, I think, you know, there are several important races on the ballot, but I think what we are really paying closest attention to is a ballot measure, which will, you know, remake the city council essentially.

So Corvallis' city government is a little bit unique.

It has nine city councilors.

Most city governments have five to seven, and those councilors serve two-year terms.

And so this initiative would reduce that down to six city councilors and make it four-year terms.

So that would be more in align with other local governments.

And so we have a reporter, Macy Moore, who has done great reporting on this and, you know, has been talking to people in the community.

And there are people on the city council that feel like nine city councilors is too many cooks, and it's hard to get a decision done and get consensus among nine people.

And, you know, on the other end of that, you know, there are some voters that are essentially saying, "Are you asking us to choose affirmatively less representation?"

And, you know, so I think that is a decision voters will have to make of will this make city government more effective and more efficient, or am I choosing to have a smaller voice at city council?

- Well, having watched the Portland City Council changes, it's definitely fascinating to watch a government change before your eyes.

It can be kind of both exciting but also kind of messy.

So I'm curious to see what Corvallis voters decide on November 3rd.

Anything else you want to talk about, Rebecca?

We covered a lot here.

- I don't think so.

- Okay.

Rebecca Hansen White, everyone, thanks so much for coming.

- Thank you.

(audience clapping) All right.

I would love to welcome our next guest to the stage, Jenna Benson and Marina Kandas of the Daily Barometer.

(audience clapping) Thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you for having us.

- Thank you for having us.

- Thank you for having us.

- Yes.

- We are very excited to be on campus.

Very excited to just try to figure out what exactly is going on in college students' worlds because Lord knows we don't really know.

Part of what we try to do on "OPB Politics Now" is lift like kind of behind the veil, get a little bit, you know, what's going on in politics.

What's it like to be a journalist on a college campus right now?

And maybe I'll start with Jenna.

- Yeah.

My tenure as a reporter was honestly kind of short.

I reported for about six months and then was in an editorial position, but I've been in like journalism on campus for three years now.

So I've seen a lot of different facets of what is brought to the table when college students are really passionate about something.

A couple years ago, we had an encampment on campus for the Palestinian cause, and two years ago there was a grad student strike and there was a lot of solidarity behind them, and pushing with the presidential election in 2024.

Every time there is a major political event, either happening in the Corvallis community or on a national level, it is felt on campus.

- Yeah, Marina, anything you want to add to that?

- Yeah, to add to that, I have a little bit of the opposite experience of Jenna.

I was only editor for about a term.

I was the summer editor-in-chief, but before that I was a reporter and have done most of my time at Orange Media Network as a reporter.

And so I've done a lot of just kind of on the ground work, talking to a lot of different communities.

But I would say from my experience, I've noticed that Instagram is really how people get their news these days, especially college age students.

I think news needs to be something that's kind of flashy and grabs attention quickly.

Like people aren't going to sit down and read a really long article.

And as much as I love the physical paper, and there are students who love physical media, to a great extent, people want to passively be scrolling on their phone to find their news.

So I think having that in mind as college journalists is how can we communicate with the audience?

Which is college age students, that's people 18 to 22.

How are we going to get the news out there to them?

And that's been something that's in the landscape of college journalism these days.

- At the same time, it always feels good to have an A1 byline, right?

And we were backstage reading a story that you have on the cover of the latest edition.

Do you wanna just talk a little bit about how that came and for folks who haven't read it yet, like what it's about?

- Yeah, so the most recent story I did was looking at the impact of Phil Knight's $1 billion donation to the University of Oregon to start an engineering program at the school.

And there's a lot of controversy, as I'm sure you can all understand, related to that.

And it was a story that Jenna assigned to me.

Sorry, the distance is a little funky, but it was a story that I honestly didn't really know where it was going at first.

It seemed a bit unclear because the university was a bit closed lips about it.

There was some official statements, but eventually, the president of Oregon State, ended up giving a speech at the faculty senate and then also answered quite candidly a lot of people's questions.

And there's a lot of tension around it, I would say, in terms of the higher ed politics, definitely between Portland State, OIT and Oregon State, which all have engineering programs.

And I learned this, I didn't know this until writing this article, but UO actually does have an engineering program in some respect.

They have a bioengineering graduate program, but it's in partnership with OSU, which I though was interesting.

But through my conversations, I came to kind of understand that maybe UO might be trying to carve a bit of a niche for themselves in terms of like more biomaterial type engineering, whereas OSU might have to take a turn into kind of that AI focus, which is already a focus, especially with the Huang complex here, but might have to specialize into that kind of robotics type engineering.

And so there's a lot of tension.

OSU says that they're gonna push back against this.

And there is some kind of government regulation, the higher, I honestly don't remember the name.

- Higher Education Coordinating Commission?

- Yes.

There you go-- - HECC.

- HECC, what the heck?

- Yeah.

- I'm glad you remember.

- Yeah, I covered higher ed for a while, so I know that-- - Yeah.

- I know that acronym.

It's a fun one.

- And so HECC, as I lovingly refer to it as, because I don't know the whole name, has been, or will play a role in this potentially.

So, it's still in question whether this program will be moving forward.

They would need approval of HECC, but it seems that the other Oregon public universities are gonna be putting up a bit of a fight to have this donation not necessarily go to an engineering program.

- It's not just all, you know, 100% everyone's sunshine and rainbows when, you know, I'm a Duck, sorry.

When Uncle Phil writes a check for $1 billion, it not, you know, not everyone is pleased is how it plays out.

Jenna, anything you want to add more about that story?

You assigned that story.

That's a good editor right there.

- Yes.

We were keeping an eye on that because, you know, there's the rivalry Ducks and Beavers, but the Daily Barometer and the Daily Emerald do kind of work closely in a lot of different situations, especially larger scenarios that impact all of Oregon.

But I was so trusting with Marina with this story because she's always had the decorum with everything she's handled.

And it's really shown that all of the people on campus are also incredibly interested in this.

We've had to redistribute a lot of our newspapers multiple times already.

We don't, yeah.

And speaking to the Instagram focus for a lot of college students getting their news.

As of an hour ago, the post about her story had 130,000 views.

- Wow.

That's great.

(audience clapping) - So, yeah.

- People are engaging and supporting student journalism.

- Oh, yes.

There's been a lot of uptick, especially from summer coming into this academic year, which I credit a lot to Marina, is that she really grew that Instagram audience and got people interested in following our page and getting the news through that way.

- Well, that's fantastic.

You know, spend a lot of time in the newsroom trying to figure out, you know, what are the main issues that voters are caring about in the election.

We even commissioned a poll that Rebecca mentioned of, you know, a thousand Oregonians.

But I'm curious, what issues are top of mind that you're hearing from, you know, people on campus?

What are people talking about?

What do people care about right now?

- There is a lot of focus right now surrounding our library because with the university-wide budget cuts coming into the academic year having to adjust the fiscal 26, 27 budget following a, I don't remember the exact name of the meeting, but the state of Oregon met and discussed their budgeting for higher ed as a whole.

And the school had a lot of anticipation around those budget cuts, so there were plans in place of what was going to be on the chopping block to keep the university running.

And our library is now closed on Saturdays and has reduced hours Friday, Sunday, and opens later on Monday through Thursday, I believe.

So a lot of students on campus so far are really feeling the impacts of that.

And I think it plays into the larger conversation that is being had around literacy and being in the know and having that access to books and archives and the research on our research university campus.

A lot of students are very interested in what is happening with that.

- Marina, anything jumping out to you on that same question?

Just-- - Oh, so much actually.

There's a lot of things people are talking about.

But one thing I was thinking about is just basic needs, I think is something that a lot of college students are concerned about, whether that's food security.

A lot of college students are food insecure.

There's, housing in Corvallis is incredibly expensive.

It's a small town, but it's really expensive to live here.

And for a lot of students, it's very hard to manage budgeting their basic needs, their housing, as well as tuition, and textbooks, and things like that.

And so I think that's a major concern for a lot of students.

Another one that really jumped out at me, which Jenna and I had talked about a bit, was about ICE.

And I think that is one of the main concerns that students have, as well as we have a fairly large international student population, or in some terms had, because there are a lot less these days.

But I think a lot of students are fearful about the potential of any immigration enforcement being in the city of Corvallis, as well as on our campus.

- We were talking backstage about the governor's race, and we're going to talk more about that in a little bit here.

Are students talking about the governor's race?

I know obviously not all Oregon State students are residents, you know, year round.

Is it something that people are talking about or is it kind of not really a main topic, Jenna?

- Yeah.

Students, I think, are interested in politics as a larger concept and more broad issues.

But when it comes to specific policies and candidates who are either returning to office such as Kotek, or wanting to come into office like Drazan, there is less desire to follow closely the local candidates that will make policies happen because we have kind of a larger, roughly fifty-fifty, I think I would say, in-state, out-of-state students.

So, like, 50% of our campus can't even vote.

So, it comes into question of how does this affect me if I don't even get a say?

And, you know, some students may only be living in Corvallis for the academic year, so what really is impacting from that?

But I think that there has been, as the midterms draw closer, a lot more focus in on what that actually means, because I think for the first time in a long time, there is a more substantial threat, if you would say, of Oregon flipping.

So students are, I think, picking up and kind of paying more attention now that that may or may not be a possibility.

- Well, to add on to that, I would say that a lot of students, at least in my view, kind of view our local elections as a bit of proxy elections for the greater stage of national politics.

And so I think for a lot of students, they say, "Oh, like Tina Kotek is against Donald Trump, so I'm gonna vote for Tina Kotek."

I don't think many students really look at the individual policies or the conversations that these politicians are having.

It's a little bit more of like a general Republican versus Democrat party affiliation in terms of how students vote, is at least what I would say is my understanding of that.

- Okay.

You talk about the proxy a little bit.

Building off that, I was an undergraduate student at that other institution a few miles down the road, 23 years ago, and there's a Republican president starting a war in the Middle East.

And, you know, I remember what that felt like.

Obviously the nation, so much has changed since then, but there were protests and it was a very specific vibe, and kind of inescapable on campus.

What's the vibe on like campus in Corvallis now?

You know, we're at war in Iran at the moment, and I'm just kind of curious, does that show up in campus life?

- Especially this past spring when the war first was instigated, we had our Iranian Students Association out every Friday protesting, like asking anybody to listen to their cause.

So broaching the larger topic of, like Marina said, we do have a lot of international students here or interest for people to be here.

So the, you know, impacts of ICE and international relations are incredibly important to these people who are looking at Corvallis to maybe call it home.

And there is, you know, they want that sense of security from us.

- I would say it's a bit quieter than it has been past terms.

We're only in week four.

- Yeah.

- We're at the very beginning of our term, so not too, too much has happened, but Jenna did say we had students from Iran protesting in the spring.

I think we also live in a very turbulent time in terms of national politics.

So I think to some extent, the unpredictability of it is pretty predictable.

We recently had a No Kings protest this past weekend in Corvallis, and I think students are definitely still passionate.

Students are still involved.

They're still trying to shape the narrative of politics.

To whatever extent that might be this fall, we'll find out.

- Rebecca and I were talking a little bit about artificial intelligence earlier, and then you mentioned Jensen Huang, obviously one of the richest people on Earth and Oregon State graduate.

And obviously your younger people are gonna enter this job market.

What is the conversation like about AI in your circles, in your classes?

I mean, is it excitement, fear, both?

I don't know.

Marina, do you want to start with this one?

- Yeah, sure.

I would say that there's a lot of tension around AI, and I think especially in an academic setting like a university, you see tension between disciplines, especially like Jenna and I were talking, I'm a STEM major, Jenna is an English major, and I think the approaches between those two are a bit different.

I think a lot of STEM faculty and business faculty push AI as a tool and see it as the resource that we should use and be focusing on, whereas on the other hand, I think the more humanity side of things view it as a threat to things like creativity and critical thinking.

And so I think there is this interesting time that we are living in where students are against it, some students are for it, some students use it, but still oppose it.

I think data centers versus do I like AI, but do I want this data center in my backyard?

There's a lot of different nuances to this conversation, I think.

- Yeah, Orange Media Network is kind of like the parent company, you would say, of the Daily Barometer.

That's kind of our branding that we're under, hosting all of our different content creation mediums.

So we've got TV, radio, three different magazines and the newspaper.

So, there is a push, again, from us as OMN against AI in our spaces, specifically like Marina said, because in these more humanitarian spaces, AI and the conversation surrounding it is more an attack on creativity and, you know, a direct job threat.

And OSU's push for academic preparedness to lead to career opportunities.

I had a careers and pathways for English and writing majors class, and our professor did want us to explore how could, you know, AI supplement a position that you might get out of a English or writing degree.

And there was major pushback from everyone in the class of using any kind of AI tool, myself included.

But, you know, when we're turning in assignments on Canvas, a lot of professors just automatically have it on Turnitin and things.

So, you know, that's like a AI grading platform to tell if the paper is AI.

So, you know, there's a lot of inadvertent usage of it as well, just being a student on a campus.

But I also have a business minor and I've seen a lot of, and heard conversations surrounding AI in the business sphere.

And I feel like it is kind of being used to take what is seen as monotonous kind of positions like data entry or project management planning kind of things.

And it's framed around time saving and, you know, optimization so you can spend time doing other things.

So, I think there are conversations surrounding AI in both these different spheres, but they never really overlap.

- Okay.

You're gonna have so much free time when it's doing the work for you, right?

- Yeah.

- Well, I think we should close maybe with Jesse Lagree.

I mean, is this like the talk of campus-- - Yes.

- At this time?

- Our football season is a surprising turnaround.

(audience clapping) Yes.

And with the Ducks out of the way, Wazzu kind of stepped in as our rival and they did not stand a chance this Saturday.

So, go Beavs.

- Well, thank you both for coming up here and doing this.

Give them a big round of applause.

Jenna, Marina, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

(audience clapping and cheering) - All right, I'd love to welcome Elizabeth Miller, Lauren Dake, and Dirk VanderHart to the stage.

(audience clapping) - Hello.

- Hello.

You're welcome for not having to talk about Jesse Lagree.

There is so much discussion.

You know, I wanted to, but that's what they're here for.

- It's a different podcast.

- Yeah, different segment.

- So Dirk and Lauren, here we go again.

We've been talking in front of crowds now it seems like for a while.

Did this up in Beaverton not too long ago.

- Yep.

- If people were there for that, hi again.

- Sorry.

- You're welcome.

We might hit a few of the same topics, but hopefully we have some new stuff.

But let's talk about the major race on everyone's minds, the governor's race.

I think it would be helpful to do a quick recap of these two politicians, you know, who they are, how they ended up at this moment.

You know, Lauren, I like to do a walk and talk.

So, you and I, we're walking, picture we're walking, we're talking through Avery Park.

We're just talking about Christine Drazan.

Who is she?

- You want me to give you like a top five?

- A top five.

- Okay.

Christine Drazan, she's a Republican candidate for governor.

She was born in Klamath Falls, so Oregon.

She's from Oregon.

She likes to say she's a small town girl.

Her father worked in the timber industry, and so something that's come up a lot on the campaign trail is that their household was not always financially stable, and there was a time in her life when they relied on food benefits to eat.

That was just one.

I might have cheated a little bit there.

Okay, two, she attended George Fox University, which is a conservative Christian college in Newberg.

Three, she's a mom of three.

Four.

Before she was elected to the State House, and then later the State Senate, she was a staffer in the state legislature, and she was a staffer in the era when Republicans had a lot of power and a lot of influence.

And I think that's noteworthy because I feel like it's always framed the way that she thinks about the Republican Party.

She has seen the influence that they could have, and she's sort of seemingly worked to restore that ever since.

And five, I saw that she was here last weekend at OSU and they played the Cougars and won, and was decked out in a lot of Beaver gear.

- There you go.

We got back to the Beavs.

Dirk, you and I are, we're going to Marys Peak.

I've never done it before, so we're doing that together.

- Okay.

- And we are talking about Tina Kotek.

- Yeah.

- Lay it out for me.

- Yeah.

Tina Kotek, a lot of people probably know more about her than Drazan.

She was not born in Oregon.

She was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in York, Pennsylvania.

And actually moved out here for college.

She went to the U of O and also UW.

I don't know the politics around UW in this town, but also up there.

And when she got her career started, she started in nonprofit advocacy.

So she worked at the Oregon Food Bank.

She worked advocating for children, and that is this north star that continues with Kotek today, which she will tell you she is always trying to help beleaguered people, people who are less fortunate.

That is what she's always going for.

But eventually she decides advocacy and lobbying is not enough.

She wants to be in the rooms where it happens.

In 2007, she wins an open seat in North Portland.

Five years later, she is elected, maybe six years later, she is elected house speaker.

And that is where really her political story begins because she is one of the most effective, ruthless in some people's tellings, house speakers that the state has ever seen.

The list of progressive accomplishments under Kotek is very long.

It includes raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, rent control statewide, passing a new business tax to fund schools.

Again, and again, and again, she muscled through her priorities.

And then in 2022, when Kate Brown is term limited, Kotek decides she wants to run for governor and she wins.

And that's what brings us basically up to today because Kotek's first term I think is a mixed bag.

Some people question whether she was able to bring that ruthlessness and sort of hard power that she wields so well as house speaker to the governor's office where the relationships are a little different.

She would make the case that she's done very well at doing that, as we will probably talk about.

Others make the case that she has not done so well.

- Okay.

We covered a lot there on our hike.

But Dirk, we commissioned a poll.

We've talked about this a few times, about a month ago, I guess, maybe a little bit more, that went deep on this race and other issues.

What did we learn about how likely voters are feeling about these candidates?

And I guess, has that changed?

- Yeah, I mean, we learned that Kotek is not very popular right now, and that is not necessarily surprising.

Actually, many polls since Kotek took office found that she was among the least popular governors in the country.

I think our poll found about 60% of likely voters said they had an unfavorable opinion of the governor.

And, you know, that's important, right?

She's running for reelection.

The fact that she's unpopular, not just among non-affiliateds or Republicans, but also some Democrats, I think was a key reason why Christine Drazan got into this race, saw that she might have some opportunity here.

But we also know that Drazan is not all that popular.

When we did the polling, I think 45% of people liked her, 45% of people didn't like her.

I bet that's changed because the airwaves have been absolutely crammed with anti-Drazan messaging by now.

So we don't know where it stands at this point.

You know, certainly the fact that Drazan may have a higher favorability among voters is not a guarantee in Oregon that she's gonna win this race, but she looked like she had a little better numbers when we looked at it.

- Okay.

Lauren, something about this, like, have we, have we been here before?

Some of this sounds familiar, right?

- Have we seen this movie before?

- Yes.

- Yeah, Dirk and I talk a lot about how this feels sort of similar to 2018, which was when the moderate Republican Knute Buehler was running against Democrat Governor Kate Brown.

Kate Brown at the time was also not polling very well, was not very popular.

It was a blue wave year.

Trump was in office.

Just really similar dynamics.

The New York Times wrote a story at that time that said something like, "How could a progressively blue state, you know, how could this governor possibly be in trouble here, this Democratic governor?"

We just saw the New York Times write a story about this race that was like, "Could Oregon be Republican's place for optimism?"

In the race with Knute Buehler and Kate Brown, in the end, Kate Brown won quite definitively.

And so yes, there is this part of, you know, this voice in the back of my head that when we hear that Knute is in trouble, that sort of just like hearkens back to that 2018 race.

And even in 2022 when Drazan and Kotek, and independent Betsy Johnson were running against each other and the polling was tight and the polling was tight, again, all these races in the end break for the Democrats.

I mean, at some point the streak will end, but it just does have this sort of familiar refrain.

And Drazan's campaign, you know, they very much feel like this is going to be the race that ends this long Democratic streak and that this race is tied.

So we'll see.

- We'll see.

Sticking with the familiarity theme, I mean, these are familiar candidates to each other, right?

I mean, they have a history that stretches back nearly a decade, like eight years.

They served in the state legislature.

You know, Kotek was the longest tenured speaker of the house.

Drazan was the house Republican leader.

They ran against each other in 2022.

Obviously that was a little bit of a different race with Independent Betsy Johnson, former Democratic state senator in that race.

But given this familiarity, I mean, what's the message that they're giving out on that trail?

- I mean, we have seen, you all have seen Drazan-- - Everyone has seen-- - Everyone has seen-- Drazan is really trying to appeal at this stage in the race to those maybe democratically leaning voters who are so unhappy with the way their tax dollars are being spent, and so tired of the schools not doing well, and the economy not thriving, that they might consider voting for a Republican.

And she is making this very emotional plea, like look around.

"Is the status quo working," is what she's asking people.

I mean, I think she has a billboard that is just the governor's face with, "Is it working?"

And that's the billboard.

And then, you know, the governor, we've seen the Democratic campaign for her just really continually, this is a common theme we're seeing in a lot of racism across the country, continually tying Drazan to largely unpopular federal administration policies.

And the Trump administration, I think it was the first debate between the governor and Drazan where Drazan had a little quip about, "Are you playing a drinking game?

You're mentioning, you know, the federal administration so often, is this a drinking game?"

But it's a compelling message.

I think it's working for a lot of audiences who will be convinced that Kotek is the person more well suited to stand up to the Trump administration if that's what people want to see.

- But Andrew, you mentioned the long history between these two, and it's not just that they've worked alongside each other.

There is really bad blood actually between these two people.

Dating back really to when Christine Drazan was the house Republican leader, the governor was the house speaker.

Democrats that year were trying to pass some really significant climate legislation and Drazan led Republicans away from the Capitol.

They blocked that legislation.

It basically died.

That was sort of strike one with these two.

The next year, Drazan and Kotek believe they've cut a deal on redistricting, redrawing the legislative maps in the state.

And Drazan says that Kotek basically betrayed her.

She went back on her word.

She pulled out of this deal and gave Democrats power that they weren't supposed to have.

And I think that really has been an inciting incident in a very, very deep antipathy that is spanning all these years.

I mean, Drazan made very clear she was running four years ago because she could not let Tina Kotek in the office of the governor.

And she's running once again, I think, just to eject her from the office of the governor.

It's more than just she wants to be governor.

She also firmly does not want Kotek to be the governor.

- Yeah, one thing that has changed is I think they like each other even less.

(audience laughing) - Okay.

Well, Liz, on that note, hi.

Let's just - We don't really have a lot of cheery stuff to talk about here.

I wanted to dive into some of the interesting nuggets from your recent reporting.

You know, Oregon, one of the lowest performing states in the nation for student achievement.

Oregon, one of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism in the nation.

I mean, these are things that we've talked about for a while.

This is kind of why we all got in a conference room down on Macadam Avenue and OPB in August and kind of said, "Let's talk about this stuff," right?

- Yeah, I would say it actually goes back even farther.

I mean, we finished our class of 2025 project last year.

We spent 13 years covering the experiences of students in Oregon, talking to teachers, tracking the effects of pandemic learning.

And it just seemed like schools were operating in isolation, almost like there was a disconnect between what was happening at the state level and what was happening on the ground there.

You know, schools are doing what they can.

They're meeting student needs.

They have all these funding challenges, but you also have legislators talking about, you know, we've given you the most funding for schools ever.

It just doesn't compute.

And then now to add all of this, we have the governor's new accountability plan for school districts, which really kicked in this year.

And so when we talked in August, I feel like we really zeroed in on like what is the state's role in all of this, particularly with the governor as the superintendent of public instruction, as well as the role of the Oregon Department of Education?

- I feel like Liz somehow glossed over this 13-year project that if you have not watched or read the Class of 2025 project that Liz was involved in, it's amazing.

Please - (audience clapping) I'm assuming there's a lot of folks in the audience who have consumed.

- There is some new stuff in there, like hopeful stuff in that one.

- There's some hopeful stuff and it's truly just an amazing piece of journalism.

So if you haven't seen it, you should watch the full documentary after tonight.

Just, you know, inject all the OPB that you can into your veins, but-- So you set out from our conversation then and your conversation with your editor, Rob Manning, and you have been reporting for weeks on this stuff, but the first piece you wrote, I read it and I just felt this like, this is deja vu all over again, right?

You noted that Oregon has, for the last 25 years or so, tried all these different accountability measures.

I grew up in Medford.

I have some not great memories of the SIM and CAM programs that were ultimately killed by the legislature.

And I kind of was reading all of this and it just brings to mind, you know, I had this college roommate who was really trying to figure out who he was.

He went from a hippie kid, to an emo kid, to like a lacrosse bro.

He was like trying on all these different personalities, and I feel like Oregon is trying on all these different education identities, trying to figure out like does that resonate?

Does that make sense?

- Yeah, no, I do love that comparison.

And I feel like it is right.

I talked to one superintendent in Eastern Oregon who said it was like moving to a new house every four years.

It just keeps changing.

And what I heard from folks I talked to for these stories is that the story's more than just here's this new thing.

Sorry.

The story's also, why hasn't anything worked?

Why are we still struggling?

And I think there are many reasons and ways you can answer that.

It's not just one thing, it's not just one person.

I think a couple of the things that we found is just kind of the implementation of education policy, some challenges with that.

Oregon has a state policy where students can opt out of tests, yet we're using those test measures to hold ourselves accountable.

So it's just, again, kind of a disconnect there.

- So there's this push and pull of federal and state policies.

There's the issue of funding and just like how schools get their money is a longstanding issue.

Just how do school districts get their money and how have efforts to reform that formula fared once they enter the political sphere that's led by public sector unions and statewide associations in particular?

- Yeah, so Oregon schools get their money, some from federal dollars, and that pays for things like school meals and special education, but the big chunk comes from the state and the school funding formula, and that's money from the state funding formula comes from income taxes, lottery revenue, taxes on cannabis, and then there's local sources like property taxes and levies.

But all of these things get distributed from the state and it's based on student enrollment, but it's also based on how many students you're serving that are learning English or, you know, have disabilities.

And so that's, you know,.

we haven't really talked about declining enrollment, but that's kind of in the back of my mind all the time as an education reporter, and it's on these school districts' minds because that's how they get their money.

And then when you talk about the funding formula, I mean, it's old, you have a lot of folks saying it's outdated.

I mean, I think we've heard in the governor's race that they want to address this, but I think it's one of those things in Oregon where it's like kind of we all want to do this thing, but we haven't done it yet.

And so I feel like, it seems like that movement is there to change, but it hasn't happened yet.

- The declining enrollment piece, I just kind of struck me as you were talking.

I was like, "Oh, I totally forgot that from our setup."

And obviously we're in this place where Portland Public Schools are talking about closing, you know, more than a dozen schools.

Medford is-- - Corvallis just closed a couple last year.

- Yeah, exactly.

Medford is talking about closing schools, Corvallis.

Why?

How?

What?

- Again, I think with declining enrollment, I mean, a lot of it gets pointed to the birth rate and the declining birth rate, which is very valid, and a big reason why schools aren't as full as they are.

But I think one thing that I'm really curious about that I'm learning more about is just how schools are able to pull in students who aren't choosing public school right now.

I think that's a really big question in Oregon is how many people are choosing other forms of education, whether it's homeschooling, whether it's a virtual charter, whether it's private school.

So, that's something that's on my mind a lot, and if anyone wants to talk about it, my email is emiller@opb.org.

- I'm sure you're gonna get some emails after this.

I hope so.

So, I mean, Oregon's not the only state that has public schools.

I'm pretty sure there are 49 other states.

What are other states doing, Liz, that Oregon can't figure out?

- Yeah.

When I was doing this reporting for these stories, I wanted to hear kind of where are states doing this right, because you're right.

Someone's got to be doing it.

And one place I want to just talk about is Mississippi, because I feel like you've probably heard the Mississippi miracle.

Everyone's talking about it.

Yeah.

And so, I think what's really interesting is Mississippi has spent years, years, you know, changing how they teach reading, changing literacy instruction, but it comes from that state role and a stronger state role.

And I think in Oregon here, we have a lot of district freedom, some might call it local control, and that's, you know, kind of at odds with some of the things that really worked in Mississippi.

The other thing, I mean, Mississippi, they hold students back if they're not reading by third grade.

They, you know, have a stronger role in schools when they're not making progress.

So again, I think just looking at states that are doing education differently, it just offers Oregon a lot of lessons.

- One of the reasons we roped you into this is not just because we love hanging out with Liz, but because we have, I mean, this is obviously a huge issue in the governor's race, but we spent a lot of time trying to get the two candidates to talk to us, and we did after considerable effort, but they both sat down for video interviews that Liz and combination of the two, Dirk and Lauren participated in.

And what stood out to you in terms of their policy approaches to education and how they view this moment from our talks with them?

- Well, there were some similarities, which I mean, again, we talk about the relationship between the two, and so the list is short, but I think they both want to address instructional time.

You know, research has found that Oregon doesn't have a minimum days, they have a minimum hours of instructional time, and that varies wildly across the state.

And so I think they both want to standardize that.

They both wanna change, strengthen, reaffirm graduation requirements.

But then when you think about Governor Kotek and her accountability plan, I mean, she told us like that she thinks this is the right path.

This is the plan.

Be patient.

It's gonna take some time.

And so that's kind of what I think we learned from that.

And then from Drazan, I mean, she says Oregon is not on the right path, and she wants to kind of-- I mean, I guess that's an obvious answer there, but one of the things that I wanted to talk to her about is that she's interested in opting Oregon into the federal scholarship tax credit program, which would allow families money to use for education.

And a lot of folks are really concerned that that's gonna drain public school enrollment even further.

Her response when we asked her about that was that it's gonna give additional funding to schools and to students to use.

So, I think it's definitely something that we were very interested to hear from them about, for sure.

- It would be silly to be sitting on this beautiful college campus and not ask about the state of higher ed in Oregon these days.

I mean, we just heard from Jenna and Marina that, you know, the library's not open on like, I didn't know that-- - Yeah- - That was surprising.

We're something like 46th in the country in state support for public higher ed.

How did that happen?

Is there any discussion of addressing that?

- Yeah, that was a really good tee up for this conversation, but everyone's having to tighten their belts right now, and higher ed is no different.

I mean, funding has not increased for higher ed in Oregon, yet budgets are growing due to declining enrollment, increasing personnel costs, changes in federal funding.

When we asked Governor Kotek and Drazan about it, I mean, both of them were surprised to be asked about higher education.

It just feels like it's not as much of a part of the conversation right now.

But Governor Kotek wants to use public-private partnerships to support universities.

Drazan wants to use geographic partnerships where like OSU can work with EOU and meet students where they are geographically.

I'm hoping, and maybe it's a little naive to say, that I feel like higher ed is having a moment where there's been an acknowledgement that the funding these schools are getting isn't enough.

And the importance of Oregon's universities has been highlighted in things like the Prosperity Council report and some of these conversations about Oregon's economy.

But I think, kind of like K-12, we still have yet to see action to match the urgency of the problem with higher ed funding.

- Okay.

Liz, anything else you'll be watching as lawmakers get together again in Salem on the education front?

- Just money.

I think money is the big thing right now.

How are people spending it?

Who's watching that spending?

How much money do we have?

Like I just think all those conversations are going to be really juicy come the 27th.

- Depending on who wins the governor's race, there could be very different outcomes because Christine Drazan wants to do away with this tax that goes to fund schools and she's saying she'll find the money elsewhere, and that's unclear.

I mean, we could be looking at a very different funding formula for schools in general if we have a Republican in office.

- Good point.

Pivoting back to the governor's race, I mean, Democrats have been in charge in this state you know, in the governor's office for more than four decades.

Does anything actually change if Christine Drazan wins and a Republican moves into Mahonia?

- Well, in the 1990's we saw the Democrat governor, John Kitzhaber, who was governor at the time when Republicans controlled both the state and the house, both chambers and the legislature.

And at that time, he is a former ER doc, as I'm sure you most of you know.

He earned the nickname Dr.

No because he just vetoed so many bills coming out of the state legislature.

And so Drazan would, if she were to be elected, basically have that scenario but flipped.

You know, she would be dealing with a democratically controlled house and senate.

And she has said she would use her veto pen.

She said she would veto any new taxes.

You know, she could issue line item vetoes on budget requests.

So, that really seems like probably the most likely way that she would slow down Democratic priorities.

And so, I don't know your short answer to this.

The short answer is, would there be this huge massive immediate change with a Republican in Mahonia Hall?

Probably not because it would still be divided government and there would probably just be a lot more gridlock.

- But, to your point, I mean, Democrats have controlled the governor's office, as you said, for 40 years.

They've been building up the architecture of the executive for 40 years.

Republicans have not been able to touch it.

And so, I do think, I mean, we saw this when Drazan ran four years ago.

There were questions about whether the Republican bench was deep enough for all the sort of appointees that Drazan would need to put in place in relatively short order to be found.

Could she find qualified people?

We expect a governor Drazan to fire a not insignificant amount of agency heads that she doesn't agree with.

Can she find folks that walk her line?

This is a big question that I'm going to have.

You know, would a Republican governor in very short order be able to write a budget and find people to administer an effective government?

- Lauren, what has to happen for Christine Drazan to win this race?

- Well, I think we have to, I mean, we kind of touched on this.

She has to continue to appeal to those moderate Democrat voters who will be convinced that the issues happening at the state level with housing and the economy are, you know, more important, or at least more urgent, than what is happening on the federal level.

And I think also, she has a tough argument to make right now, and we're starting to see that as as we get closer to the end of this race.

We even saw it in the Oregonians editorial of Governor Kotek who they endorsed.

They called it a sort of a dispirited endorsement and the message has sort of shifted to like, "We don't really like her.

She hasn't really done a great job, but let's give her four more years."

- So Dirk, even if this race isn't as close as it may have seemed a week ago, it's certainly competitive.

- Yeah.

- But why has Governor Kotek been so unpopular?

- Yeah, it's an interesting question.

I mean, it's a question that we asked her.

I think, look, like very generally, Oregonians for years now have seen a number of big problems that haven't seemed to go away.

So homelessness is as visible as it's ever been.

We continue to see people with addiction issues or behavioral health issues on the streets, right?

Our school scores are not looking good.

And those are three things that Kotek came to office four years ago and said, "These are my priorities."

And Oregonians are looking around and saying, "Well, it doesn't feel like much has changed."

Kotek's argument this year is that, in fact, things have changed.

We may not have as many housing starts as she promised, but in fact, the trajectory seems to be going up a little bit, so maybe that's hopeful.

The school scores have crept up a little bit, so maybe that's hopeful.

She's trying to connect to people with all these behavioral health services and maybe we have more of those to provide.

So that's hopeful.

She's sort of saying Rome hasn't been built in a day, but when you ask her, "Why aren't you popular given all that?"

Her answer is essentially, "Well, I've been working really hard.

I've had my nose to the grindstone and I just kind of forgot to tell everyone what a good job I'm doing.

If I get another--" - She did say that.

I didn't communicate it well enough, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, I haven't communicated well.

If I get another term, I'll do a better job at communicating, but in fact, things are going well.

I've just been working really hard and haven't had the chance to tell people.

- I think I'm gonna use that in my review this year, Andrew.

Would that work?

I've been working really hard, I promise.

- We'll talk about it.

- You just didn't notice.

- So, we're in the final sprint here towards the end of this election cycle.

Have the candidates made any pivots in their strategy here as it comes to a close or is it kind of the same thing?

- I think we've seen a bit of a pivot from the Drazan campaign in her most recent campaign advertisement.

She looks directly at the camera and basically says, you know, "If I'm elected governor, I am not going to ban abortions.

I am not going to, you know, and vote by mail or let Washington DC control Oregon."

And she says something like, "You may have heard, you know, creepy ads about me, but that's not me."

And the subtext here is really she's just looking at the camera very directly and being like, "I'm not MAGA," right?

Like that's the fear about her.

That's what has been said about her this whole campaign cycle.

So I mean, she's very, been very direct.

And I think we'll see a spike in spending in these last couple of weeks here, and we might see more of that, more of her trying to distance herself a little bit from the Trump administration.

- Yeah, I mean, I think Kotek, you know, you said it, Lauren, she was saying Trump every chance she got earlier in the race.

I think she still says Trump a lot.

I think maybe she has pivoted a little more to talk about her own view on where the state is and her own vision for the future, which some people certainly were looking for, but we are still going to hear Trump a lot.

And that's because I think that, you know, that makes sense.

There's probably only one very high profile politician in Oregon that might be less popular than the governor and that is the president.

When we talk to voters who told OPB in their polls, you know, we don't like, I don't think Tina Koteks' doing a good job and I'm going to vote for her anyway, to a person.

And I hopped on the phone with a bunch of these people, they said, "Sure, I don't like what's going on in the governor's office, but I like what's going on in Washington DC far, far less."

And when it comes to holding my nose and voting for a person who I don't necessarily think is going to bring us where I want to be in four years, I will rather vote for that person than someone who might make things far, far worse."

And I think if that is the story of this race and that is how many, many people are feeling, we probably are going to see the outcome like you, like Lauren talked about earlier, where it breaks late for Dems.

I just don't know if that is the tale of the race until we see the returns, but that's how it looks to me.

- Okay.

Well, I've got my ballot.

It's in its customary sacred place in a pile of mail somewhere.

(audience laughing) What is your voting ritual?

- Stuck between L.L.Bean catalogs, Andrew, or what?

- Oh, so many L.L.Bean catalogs.

You know, I should order some new stuff from L.L.Bean.

I don't own any L.L.Bean.

It's Eddie Bauer and it's gone.

What do I do with it now?

No, what's your voting ritual?

- I don't know that I really have a ritual, but I found out recently that I am a rare person in the office that really takes advantage of vote by mail.

Like, I mean, I just fill it out and stick it in my mailbox and apparently I'll let you guys go.

But no, Dirk is, he doesn't, what?

Tell 'em.

- Well, let's start by saying that, like, if you had-- I mean, elections officials are saying mail early this time because no one knows what's going-- I mean, the postal office will deliver your ballot, but things get real weird and it's changed in the state, so they want you to vote at least a week before the election if you're doing it by mail.

So please remember that.

My voting ritual is, first, so I live in Portland.

For some reason in Portland there's a ballot drop box at a McDonald's.

And it's by my house.

And so what we do is like, once we fill out our ballot, we go to McDonald's and get an ice cream cone and treat ourselves to the fact that we voted.

We don't have stickers.

(audience clapping) Thank you.

- I love that.

- We don't have stickers, but we have ice cream cones.

So there you go.

- I do that, but without the ice cream, and I'm just like frantically trying to drive down to my ballot box to just like drop it off before the time runs out.

- Oh, you're like a last minute.

- I'm a last minute.

Like there's a car, like line of cars and I'm just with my last minute friends.

- You're seeing the clock go 7:55.

- Literally.

- 7:56.

Oh man, that's stressful.

Liz, I can't do that.

- I know, I'll add ice cream though this time, yeah.

- Well, let's leave it there for today.

Thank you to these three for this amazing insight analysis.

(audience clapping) (soft playful music) This week's episode of "OPB Politics Now" was recorded before a live audience at the PRAx Center in Corvallis on the campus of Oregon State.

(audience cheering) It was produced by me, Andrew Theen and our audio engineer is Nalin Silva.

Give it up for Nalin.

(audience clapping) Our music comes from Audio Network.

Thanks to our amazing event staff, Liz and Robyn for making this happen.

(audience clapping) We'll be back next week with more political news from across the Pacific Northwest.

Til' then, you can find all of OPB's reporting at opb.org.

Thanks for your support and thanks for listening.

(audience clapping)