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It’s too early to declare Lane County’s 2026 primary election in the books.
From the Eugene City Council to the Board of Lane County Commissioners and Lane County Circuit Court, multiple races were still too close to call as of Thursday morning, May 21.
But it’s not too early to draw some takeaways from local voters’ choices — including the choice many made to not vote at all.
Here are our three biggest takeaways from the primary election results so far:
1. Eugene favors incumbents, Lane County opts for change
Three incumbent Eugene city councilors — Jennifer Yeh, Greg Evans and Mike Clark — faced challengers for their seats on Tuesday. Yeh and Evans cruised to easy victories, while Clark received more votes than his two challengers as of late Wednesday but appears to be headed to a November runoff against progressive candidate Athena Aguiar.
Add up Aguiar and fellow progressive candidate Jasmine Hatmaker’s vote totals, and there’s a very real path for Aguiar to unseat the conservative Clark. But the dynamics of a one-on-one race are different, and if Clark wins a sixth term, the makeup of Eugene’s next City Council will look strikingly similar to the current one.
The county races are playing out differently. One incumbent appears headed for defeat while another could face a challenging runoff. And a rare electoral defeat of a sitting circuit court judge appears likely as well.
Springfield’s Lane County Commissioner David Loveall has conceded his race to Sean VanGordon, although the current margin still leaves a November runoff as a possibility. East Lane commissioner candidate Jake Pelroy may unseat two-term incumbent Heather Buch (Pelroy led Buch 48.6% to 46.6% late Wednesday in a three-way race; if he crosses the 50% threshold, he will win outright, but if not, will face Buch one-on-one in a November runoff). And local attorney Katina Saint Marie is leading sitting judge Amit Kapoor in the lone contested Lane County Circuit Court judge race.
It’s difficult to grasp what takeaways, if any, there might be here. Perhaps it’s that money matters — Pelroy alone received close to $300,000 in campaign contributions. But each race is unique, and anyone looking to draw conclusions about voters’ mood from local candidate races should look elsewhere.
2. Springfield, rural voters express spending fatigue
While candidate races were a mixed bag, voters across the county seemed to send a clear message about ballot measures.
The message was: Times are tough, and we can’t pay.
Ballots are still being counted across the county, but a levy for Lane County’s Oregon State University Extension Service and 4-H youth programs was trailing slightly after Wednesday’s returns, 50.2% opposed to 49.8% in favor.
Increased taxes to support Lane Fire Authority and South Lane County Fire & Rescue? Trailing.
Funding to stave off cuts to Willamalane Park and Recreation District? Trailing by fewer than 100 votes as of Wednesday afternoon.
A bond for school building improvements in the Siuslaw School District in Florence? Trailing.
With the economy on shaky ground and cost-of-living concerns near all-time highs — a recent national survey found nearly three-quarters of Americans feel their cost of living is on the wrong track — Lane County residents seem to have voted with their personal finances top of mind.
The exception was the Eugene Public Library, which is set to receive millions of dollars annually thanks to the higher levy rate Eugene voters approved by a wide margin Tuesday.
We’ll note that this editorial board had encouraged voting no on the Lane Fire Authority and South Lane County Fire & Rescue levies, as well as the Siuslaw school bond. Our reasoning wasn’t that these weren’t worthy causes. But in the case of the fire levies, voters had already rejected the same tax increases back in November that the districts were attempting to pass on Tuesday. And in the school bond’s case, the math didn’t add up on a rebuild of Siuslaw High School at a cost to local taxpayers upwards of $125 million.
There’s no limit to how many times these districts can ask voters for support. If they return with another request, we hope they’ll heed our advice and make it a more reasonable ask.
3. A late voter surge?
Last-minute voters seem to have saved the day.
Late Tuesday night, the county clerk’s office was reporting that 32.4% of eligible Lane County voters had returned ballots. We figured it would go up a bit Wednesday as remaining ballots were counted, but we weren’t optimistic it would eclipse the 36% turnout in the 2022 primary election.
Yet, a Wednesday afternoon update bumped turnout all the way up to 43.9%, according to the county’s ballot return dashboard. The data is preliminary, so we’ll wait to draw any conclusions until the next scheduled release of votes some time Thursday.
Of course, our dream is for everyone who’s eligible to vote. But if these numbers hold, signs still point to a solid turnout and a voter base that’s tuned in to the issues. That’s something we can be thankful for.
