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Charlie Conrad, a former Republican legislator, has withdrawn from the Oregon House District 12 race. Conrad ran in the May 19 primaries as an Independent Party of Oregon candidate.
A former Republican legislator is dropping his effort to reclaim his Oregon House District 12 seat in the November election.
Former state Rep. Charlie Conrad ran in the May 19 primaries and was nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon. In 2022, he was elected to the same seat, running as a Republican.
Conrad lives in Dexter. The district covers most of eastern Lane County, including communities such as Junction City, Cottage Grove, Blue River and Oakridge.
In an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Conrad said he decided to withdraw after looking at the low probability of winning in a three-way race without the Democratic nomination or party resources.
“I knew it was an uphill battle to begin with,” Conrad said.
During his only term of office, Conrad showed his willingness to buck the GOP. In 2023, he broke with his party and was the only Republican lawmaker to vote for House Bill 2002, which involved access to abortion and gender-affirming care.
The bill was a key factor in the GOP-led Senate walkout and passed only after its language was toned down, allowing providers to waive the provision for parental consent for children younger than 15 if they believe the child would be harmed if the parents are notified. Gov. Tina Kotek signed it into law.
In the 2024 primary, Lane County Republicans and anti-abortion groups supported Darin Harbick, who defeated Conrad and won the general election. Harbick is running on the GOP ticket in November.
The Independent Party of Oregon is different from voters who are unaffiliated — that is, voters who are not registered with any political party. The Independent Party became a minor party and qualified for the Oregon ballot in 2007.
Conrad, 53, is not a registered member of the Democratic Party but had initially hoped the race would be a two-way race if he secured enough write-in votes from Democratic voters in the May 19 primary.
But his political fortunes changed when Amber Smith, a registered Democrat, ran in the Democratic primary with her name on the ballot. Smith, a Cottage Grove resident, did not run a visible campaign and secured about three-fourths of the Democratic primary votes, or 4,177 votes, according to Oregon Secretary of State results.
Nearly 1,400 write-in votes were cast against Smith, who couldn’t be reached for comment.
“While I knew winning a write-in campaign would be an uphill battle, I expected — hoped — the result would be much closer,” Conrad said in a June 6 email to supporters. “The simple fact that 76% of voters selected someone who did not run a campaign — no website, no campaign manager, no platform, no public speaking events, and who ignored outreach from the Lane County Democratic Party — was disheartening.”
Conrad’s campaign knocked on more than 3,000 doors and sent out more than 7,000 pieces of literature, his note said.
“In good conscience, I can’t ask people to donate money, time and energy to a cause I believe has slightly more than a zero chance of success,” Conrad said.
Conrad won’t be in office, but he’ll still work with state lawmakers — as a lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities.
House District 12 has 56,465 registered voters, with 17,412 registered Republicans and 15,052 registered Democrats, according to Secretary of State’s office data for June. The remaining voters are unaffiliated or belong to third parties. The Independent Party has 3,062 registered voters in the district.
