OPB Politics Now

The west coast has been ravaged by wildfires. And it turns out the way we have been fighting fires for the last century has been wrong.

Recent history has shown that star power can help you get elected to public office. But can it work when the office you want is county commissioner? And, do sports fans care which party Paul Allen and Phil Knight support with the money they spend on tickets, t-shirts and shoes?

Southwest Washington’s teachers are on strike, and almost half of Oregon’s sheriff’s despise one of the country’s oldest sanctuary laws.

A US House candidate’s entire campaign staff resigns. A state House candidate ignores calls from his own party to step aside. And the president of the United States berates the mayor of Portland.

On this week’s episode of OPB Politics Now, deep-dive conversations with the Republican and Democratic candidates for Oregon governor about their lives beyond politics.

On this week’s episode of OPB Politics Now, deep-dive conversations with the Republican and Democratic candidates for Oregon governor about their lives beyond politics.

The big political news this week was north of the Columbia River as Washington voters held their primary. It suddenly became very clear that we could have three very close congressional races in the Evergreen State.

In the last year, allegations of sexual harassment have rocked the Oregon Legislature. Now there’s new controversy. Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian has accused legislative leaders of permitting a culture that downplays harassment, and overlooks victims. We explain the complaint—and its political implications.

It’s a new world for the powerful public employee unions in Oregon now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled states can’t require public employees to pay dues to unions that represent them in the workplace. The fight over the future of Oregon unions has already begun.

No issue has plagued Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler like homelessness. Now, a new analysis of police arrests has both activists and the city’s police union lobbing fresh criticism at the mayor. I’m Dirk VanderHart. In this week’s Politics Now Podcast, we’ll explain the outcry, and try to figure out what it means for Wheeler’s political future.