3 candidates, 3 fundraising styles in Democratic race to succeed John Lively

In the Democratic primary for Springfield’s Oregon House District, campaign finance transactions and interviews with candidates show how they are approaching fundraising differently.

Oregon law requires disclosure of contributions and expenditures related to any candidate, measure or political party active in any election, and transactions can be viewed by the public on the Oregon Elections System for Tracking and Reporting, known as ORESTAR.

Ky Fireside, who called their campaign “grassroots” and has received most of their contributions from individuals, has raised about $20,000, while Kori Rodley, who has received several donations from political action committees, has raised about $51,000. KC Huffman told Lookout Eugene-Springfield he has not raised money, wanting to avoid outside influences in the primary election.

The candidates are vying for the Democratic spot in the November election for the Oregon House of Representatives District 7 seat. The winner will proceed to the general election to run against Republican candidate Adam Wilson, who is unopposed in the primary.

The November winner will succeed Rep. John Lively, a Democrat, who is retiring after 14 years in the Legislature. Lively has offered $1,000 to each candidate. 

Ky Fireside

Fireside has received more than $20,000 in contributions since filing for office in October, with most donations made by individuals. 

Fireside, who uses they/them pronouns, received $105 from the political action committee for Austin Fölnagy, who serves on the Lane Community College Board of Education. Eugene resident Sam Edwards has been the single greatest contributor to Fireside’s campaign at $5,604. Grass Valley, California, resident Bax Ramspott gave Fireside $1,000. Other donations are smaller amounts.

“We wanted it to be a community campaign,” Fireside told Lookout, noting the people funding the campaign “are your friends and neighbors.”

They said their campaign staff is all-volunteer and includes college students and other “progressive community members” knocking on doors. 

“It’s all people who are just passionate about the campaign, about the things that I want to achieve,” they said. 

They have spent about $13,000 with expenses including campaign literature, mailers, campaign events and post-canvass socials for volunteers.

“We spend a lot of money on pizza,” they said. 

Fireside hosted a campaign event in March at the Wildish Community Theater, which their campaign paid $1,000 to rent. The event included a concert by Nashville musician Trey Taylor, who was familiar with Fireside’s work with Eyes Off Eugene and reached out to donate a concert for their supporters, Fireside said. The campaign donated $200 in proceeds from the event to the Friends of the Springfield Public Library.

Fireside said they’re working to show there doesn’t have to be so much money in politics. 

“The thing that surprised me was endorsements,” Fireside said. “A lot of the big-name endorsers don’t endorse completely based on values. They endorse based on whether they think your campaign is viable, and the sole determination of viability is how much money you’ve already raised.”

They hope their campaign changes that. 

“I’m hoping that part of what people take from the success that this campaign has had is that you don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to run a successful campaign,” Fireside said. “It’s far more important to have people that actually care about your platform and people that are excited and will turn out and volunteer for a candidate that they are more politically aligned with.”

KC Huffman

Huffman has not formed a candidate committee. In an email to Lookout, he said he hasn’t raised or spent any money other than the Secretary of State filing and Voters’ Pamphlet fees.

“I expect to have to seek contributions for the general election if I prevail in the primary,” he said. 

For the primary, he said he wanted “to do it as cleanly as possible without any contributions or endorsements.” 

“My primary campaign is a ‘what you see is what you get’ with no outside influences at all,” Huffman said. “I believe the voters should be able to get the information they need directly from the candidates and not from someone else’s perceptions of the candidates.”

Kori Rodley

Rodley has raised more than $51,000 since July 2025, meeting the $50,000 goal her campaign set, she told Lookout. She has spent about $45,000 since then. Because she already had a candidate committee from her City Council campaigns, she started her statewide campaign with about $3,000 in her account. 

Rodley set a goal to make phone calls for eight to 10 hours each week asking people if they’ll donate, which is a big part of how she has raised money, she said. Donations have also come from organizations that have endorsed her campaign. 

“​​I’ve learned to just be very focused, and I can’t slack on the call time,” she said.

Rodley has received several large donations from political action committees, including $10,000 from Oregon Trial Lawyers Association PAC, which has donated similar amounts toward other Democratic candidates for the state Legislature. 

Rodley said the organization endorsed her after several conversations about her campaign. After the endorsement, she asked if they would donate. 

“That was definitely higher than the range that I asked for, so that was surprising,” she said, noting that coming from a City Council race, “even $2,000 feels like so much to me.”

Other PAC contributions include:

• $3,500 from Oregon Nurses Political Action Committee
• $2,500 from OFNHP AFT 5017 Political Action Committee
• $2,000 from Oregon Hospital Political Action Committee
• $1,500 from SMART Local 16 PAC
• $1,000 from Oregon Health Care Association PAC

She has also received donations from multiple unions, including $5,000 from United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 555, $2,500 from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and in-kind contributions from Oregon Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555.

Rodley hired a part-time campaign manager and part-time field director.

“That’s been an important part of just my values in the campaign, is to have local folks and pay them to do the work, so that it’s not all on the backs of volunteers,” she said. “And they have to organize some volunteers, but the hardest work is being done by folks that we’re paying.”

Rodley’s campaign has spent money on mailers, digital ads, lawn signs and buttons. The campaign is partnering with the Working Families Party to do phone banking and is paying people for that, she said. Her campaign hosted a kickoff event at PublicHouse in September and spent money to rent space and purchase beverages.