OPB Politics Now

Ballots for the May 15th primary are arriving, and and we’ve got you covered on the latest OPB Politics Now podcast. OPB political reporters talk about some of the key legislative races and the statewide contest for Oregon labor commissioner. Subscribe to OPB Politics Now in Apple Podcasts, the NPR One app, or at OPB-dot-ORG

State Representative Knute Buehler has been crowned the likely GOP front-runner for governor and he has virtually ignored the Republican primary. His opponents say he’s not conservative enough for Oregon. On the latest episode of OPB Politics Now, we’ll take a look at the Republican primary and what a November matchup between Buehler and Governor Kate Brown could look like.

Sometimes the structure of government voters choose is just as important as who they elect. We’ll look at why Bend may get a stronger mayor, Eugene voters have two different auditor measures to consider and Portland’s form of government remains … strange.

Multnomah County leaders thought they finally had to deal to sell off the Wapato Jail. But when it comes to this particular large government white elephant, things are never easy. OPB News Director Anna Griffin and OPB reporters Dir Vanderhart and Amelia Templeton unravel the roiling ball of snakes that is Wapato.

Students and an interfaith group are launching a last-minute attempt to get a measure on the Oregon ballot to ban military-style guns. OPB reporters Jeff Mapes and Dirk VanderHart and Claire Withycombe, state capitol reporter for The East Oregonian and Pamplin Media, dissect the initiative and tell us what other measures are being circulated for signatures right now.

On this week’s OPB Politics Now, we’ll wrap up the 2018 legislative session and examine the state of the Oregon Republican Party going into primary season.

Oregon lawmakers are rushing toward adjourning the 2018 session, so we’re taking a last-minute look at the prospects for several of the major bills still in the pipeline. Jeff Mapes, OPB’s senior political reporter, talks with OPB politics reporter Lauren Dake and Paris Achen, capital correspondent for the Portland Tribune.

The mass shooting in Florida has reignited the debate over gun control. Washington and Oregon are solidly blue states. But guns are one issue where Democratic lawmakers have struggled to build consensus. On this week’s OPB Politics Now podcast, OPB News Director Anna Griffin talks to OPB political reporter Lauren Dake and Olympia reporter Austin Jenkins about the politics of guns in the northwest.

The Oregon House this week passed a resolution that would ask voters to create a constitutional right providing “access to effective, medically appropriate and affordable health care.” As the resolution heads to the Senate, OPB Politics Now looks at both the policy and the politics of the “health care for all” measure. Kristian Foden-Vencil, who covers health care for OPB, and Jeff Mapes, OPB’s senior political reporter, grapple with an issue that could be headed for the November ballot.

This week on "OPB Politics Now," we’ll discuss the policies both Oregon and Washington are considering to tackle climate change at the state level. OPB political reporter Lauren Dake talks with Cassandra Profita, an EarthFix reporter for OPB; Austin Jenkins, Olympia correspondent for the Northwest News Network; and Jeff Mapes, OPB’s senior political reporter.