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McClain Defeats Ullfers in Ward II Race

Lebanon Mayor Ken Jackola, who was unchallenged, was re-elected with 94.10% of the vote Tuesday, Nov. 5, in the general presidential election.

In City Council Ward I, Dominic Anthony Conti, who ran unchallenged, was elected with 97.18% of the vote.

In the council Ward II race, challenger David W. McClain defeated incumbent Kim Ullfers 47.78%

(798 votes) to 36.05% (602) and fellow challenger Cordero Reid (14.85% / 248 votes).

In council Ward III, incumbent Jeremy Salvage, who also was unchallenged, was re-elected with a 97.98% of the vote.

Measure 22-204, a proposal to fluoridate the Lebanon Public Water System, failed by a 4,271 (51.71%) to 3,988 (48.29%) margin.

Measure 22-205, a proposal to prohibit Psilocybin within the Lebanon city limits, passed by a 4,351 (54.79%) to 3,523 (45.21%) margin.

Voter turnout was 58.42%, according to the Linn County Clerk’s Office.

Those vote numbers were posted by the Secretary of State’s Elections Division at midnight on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5. They will likely change as mail-in and other ballots arrive and are counted. Final results, especially for close contests, may not be known until the election is certified and the official abstract of votes is published. Final certified results will be available 37 days after the election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

In the races for two open Linn County Commission seats, incumbent Roger Nyquist appeared to have a sure shot at re-election to a seventh term on the commission’s Position 2, defeating challenger David Scranage by a 68.30% to 31.43% margin.

Incumbent Sherrie Sprenger, who was unchallenged, was re-elected to her second term on the

commission, to Position 3, by a near-unanimous vote.

Eleventh District state Rep. Jami Cate had a comfortable margin in her bid for a third term in the House with a 74.57% to 25.08% lead over challenger Ivan Maluski, who ran as an unaffiliated candidate.

In the race for the U.S. House District 5 seat, which represents all of east Linn County, as of

Wednesday morning, challenger Janelle Bynum of Happy Valley, an Oregon state representative, was leading incumbent Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer with 47.66% of the vote to 45.39%, a margin of approximately 7,000 votes, with many still outstanding.

That race has turned out to be one of the most expensive House races in the country, according to votesmart.org, totaling some $10 million in campaign spending, much of it from outside groups dedicated to electing Democrats.

In the race for State Treasurer, as of Wednesday morning, Democrat Elizabeth Steiner led Republican Brian Boquist, 49.17% to 44.47%.

In the race for Secretary of State, Democrat Tobias Read led Republican Dennis Linthicum 53.80% to 43.19%.

Boquist and Linthicum are both state senators, but are barred from running for re-election to the Senate under a voter-approved law that punishes lawmakers who miss 10 or more days of work. They and eight other Republican senators staged a six-week-long walkout during the 2023 legislative session to stymie bills on abortion access, gun control and transgender health care.

In the race for state Attorney General, Democrat Dan Rayfield led Republican Will Lathrop 53.35% to 46.53%.

Measure 115, a constitutional amendment that authorizes the Oregon Legislature to impeach and remove statewide elected officials, was passing 62.84% to 37.16% on Wednesday morning.

Measure 116, which would have created a commission to set salaries for state officials, was losing 53.29% to 46.71%.

Measure 117, which would have required ranked-choice voting in elections for federal offices and state executive offices and would have allowed ranked-choice voting in local elections, appeared to be going down to defeat, 59.56% to 40.1%.

Measure 118, which would have increased corporate taxes and given all residents a yearly rebate, was trailing badly, 78.80% to 21.20%. The measure would have imposed an extra 3% tax on most businesses with sales exceeding $25 million a year. Those proceeds would have been distributed to every resident, regardless of their age or situation, provided they lived in Oregon for at least 200 days in the applicable year.

Measure 119, which would require cannabis retailers/processors to remain neutral regarding

communications to their employees from labor organizations, was passing by a 55.23% to 44.77%margin.

According to the County Clerk’s Office, voter turnout for Linn County was 64.79%.