Kotek, Drazan clash over affordability, data centers and Trump in gubernatorial debate

Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan traded onstage jabs Thursday, Oct. 1, in the first gubernatorial debate of the 2026 general election.

The evening event on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene was open to the press but accessible to the general public only via livestream. Lookout Eugene-Springfield co-sponsored the gathering with the Oregon Journalism Project, KVAL-TV and UO’s School of Journalism and Communication.

Drazan, who represents Canby in the Oregon Senate, is hoping to unseat Kotek, who is seeking a second term. The race is a rematch of the 2022 governor’s election, when Drazan lost to Kotek by roughly 3 percentage points. 

During the one-hour debate, panelists — including Lookout senior correspondent Ben Botkin, Nigel Jaquiss of Oregon Journalism Project and UO student Bayla Orton — asked candidates questions on affordability, the economy, education, housing and the environment. 

Kotek cast her opponent as a proxy for President Donald Trump, while Drazan attacked the sitting governor’s record, arguing she failed to deliver during her time in office.

Recent polling shows a virtually deadlocked race. The last Republican elected governor in Oregon was Vic Atiyeh, who served from 1979 to 1987. 

Here’s what the candidates had to say during Thursday’s debate:

Affordability

The topic of affordability dominated the debate.

Kotek touted the Power Act, passed by state lawmakers last year to shift the burden of rising utility costs onto large energy users like data centers instead of residents. She accused Drazan of favoring tax breaks for big companies and voting against bills to lower taxes. And Kotek blamed Trump for raising Oregonians’ costs by cutting Medicaid and food assistance programs.

“When we’re talking about affordability, it’s about who, at the end of the day, is going to vote in a way that stands up for real Oregonians, and her record just does not support that,” Kotek said of Drazan.

Drazan blamed Kotek’s policies as governor for raising costs on Oregon families and businesses. She faulted the state’s Climate Protection Program, an effort championed by Kotek to reduce Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions by 90%, for driving higher gas and heating prices, and vowed to abandon it if elected.

“The best thing that can be done for Oregonians to address affordability is to ensure that Tina Kotek does not get a second term,” Drazan said. “She solves every single challenge that she sees, every single problem in the state of Oregon with a new tax.”

Data centers

Asked to explain her policies on data centers, Drazan said the developments should offer shared community benefits, and must be located within communities that want them. She said she’d oppose “blanket” nondisclosure agreements for data centers.

“It’s possible for us to move together together, to move forward together, but it’s very important that we reset these relationships, and that there’s a clear understanding that these data centers need to be community partners.” she said.

Kotek called for a moratorium on new data center development, and said she would introduce a bill on “Day 1” requiring data centers to follow Oregon laws for clean energy, union labor and community benefits.

The debate featured several testy exchanges, with the candidates frequently requesting additional time to rebut their opponent. When Kotek called out Drazan’s vote against the Power Act, Drazan called the bill an “election-year gimmick” and “window dressing,” arguing the governor could have raised rates for large energy consumers on her own authority.

“Baseless rhetoric, sounds very Trumpian,” Kotek shot back. “She didn’t vote for the bill that is saving people money.”

Economy

On tax reform, Kotek said Oregon’s tax system needs to be “adequate” and cover necessities like schools, healthcare and prisons. 

“We’re going to have to be sure that whatever changes are made can help us be more competitive, but does not blow a hole in our state budget,” she said.

Drazan said if elected, “Oregon would be open for business.” She pointed to job losses around the state, arguing Kotek has made Oregon less competitive for attracting businesses than other places. Kotek should embrace recommendations made by the Oregon Prosperity Council, a panel of business leaders she convened this year to strengthen the state’s economy, Drazan argued.

“If we want stable public funding for public services for our most vulnerable, we need jobs in our state,” she said. “That only begins when we begin to turn around our reputation, address taxation and address regulation.”

To support farmers, Drazan said she would raise the state’s overtime threshold for farmworkers to keep costs lower. Kotek said she wouldn’t, arguing it was “fair and moral” for farmworkers to have paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week.

Housing

On increasing the housing supply, Drazan said she wants more buildable land turn to construction through expedited permitting and lower fees.

Housing “was Tina Kotek’s No. 1 agenda item when she ran for governor four years ago,” she said. “It has been an abysmal failure. We have almost 10-year record lows in housing production.”

Kotek said she, too, would work to streamline permitting and “reducing red tape,” and took aim at Drazan’s voting record on affordable housing and streamlined housing bills.

“Her plan is basically what we’ve been doing for the last four years, and we’re seeing progress,” Kotek said. “The first six months of last year to the first six months of this year, Oregon is up 11.5% in its housing starts. That is progress.”

Education

Asked why higher state investments in K-12 education have failed to produce better results, Kotek said she “wasn’t satisfied either.”

She pointed to recent state investments in early literacy and a bill establishing statewide performance standards, and stressed the need to reduce chronic absenteeism.

“We have more work to do, and we want to stay the course on the things that are working,” she said.

Drazan slammed Kotek’s education policies, accusing her of supporting lengthy COVID-19 school shutdowns and lower graduation standards that have dragged down student outcomes. 

Asked about ideas for making higher education more affordable, Drazan said colleges should “skinny up” graduation requirements and recognize more high school and community college credits.

“We need to put a very real focus on ensuring that we have degree completers, not just degree starters, that begin their career in higher ed but only end it with higher debt,” she said.

Kotek blamed Trump’s cuts to federal research funding and sought to tie Oregon’s problems to broader higher-education challenges across the country.

Environment

Addressing the Prosperity Council’s call to replace Oregon’s Climate Protection Program with a market-based program, Kotek said she was “100% supportive” of her signature climate program. But she said she would support the Legislature making the policy “more competitive and aligned” with Washington and California’s market-based systems. 

“In the meantime, CPP stays in place because it’s protecting our communities from climate change,” she said.

Kotek accused Drazan of denying climate change — prompting a rebuttal from Drazan, who said she believes in human-caused climate change but doesn’t want to raise taxes to address it. 

“This is another example of the governor choosing to find a way to advance her special interests and her nonprofits,” Drazan said. “The climate protection plan doesn’t benefit climate in the state of Oregon. The funds that are higher than anywhere else in the nation will actually go to a climate justice nonprofit.”

Political issues

Some of the most heated moments of the night emerged as candidates answered questions on topics like abortion, last year’s deployment of federal troops to Portland and the source of each candidate’s campaign contributions.

Asked about her support for Trump’s deployment of federal troops to Portland amid anti-ICE protests, Drazan distanced herself from the position and said Oregon should enforce its own laws. Kotek called Drazan’s characterization a “reinterpretation of history,” and said she stood aside as the city faced a “crisis.”

Drazan accused Kotek of being beholden to public-employee unions that support her campaign and working in their interest instead of Oregonians outside the government. Kotek defended her support for organized labor, but said she doesn’t make decisions based on campaign donations. The candidates got into a tense back-and-forth after Drazan rebutted by saying the governor had “paid off her supporters.”

“I think we all understand who’s supporting who in this race,” Kotek said.

“I think that this shows how much retribution you’re willing to engage in,” Drazan shot back. 

After Drazan said Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Kotek dug in on her opponent’s support for Trump’s policies, a point she raised repeatedly throughout the debate.

“The fact that she has made no effort to dispute, criticize, or take issue with anything that President Trump has done, means that she is 100% (in) lockstep with President Trump, and therefore is on the ballot this year because of who she supports,” Kotek said.

Drazan, who has previously said she opposes abortion, said she wouldn’t support a ban if elected, but called it a “personal” and “incredibly complex” issue that she approaches from the “pro-life side of things.” Kotek attacked her endorsements from an anti-abortion organization and her sponsoring of bills that would have punished reproductive healthcare providers. 

“What the governor just did was to double down on rhetoric, which divides us,” Drazan rebutted. “It’s time for us to recognize that this is a settled issue, and to allow our state to move forward together.”