The Bridge by OR360

Rachel Armitage has officially been selected to finish the term of former State Senator Betsy Johnson, representing rural northwest Oregon. A Democrat, Armitage has deep experience in politics, including working as a legislative assistant for Rep. Susan McLain and former Rep. Carla Piluso. She also worked at the national level on the campaigns of Montana Senator Jon Tester and former North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan. Gowland grew up in Medford, and in this episode we talk about the past and future of the timber industry and whether Democrats can win in rural districts in 2022. We do a deep dive on the appointment process to fill legislative vacancies, including the peculiarities of this specific vacancy (Armitage was actually supporting one of her opponents). Finally, we talk about the perspective Armitage will bring as a millenial legislator and how to bridge generational divides in Oregon politics.

Sarah Iannarone grew up in a union family in upstate New York. Rather than going to college out of high school, Sarah pursued a trade and worked as a chef in great food cities around the U.S.. Not long after moving from New Orleans to Portland in 1998, Sarah opened a small restaurant to connect the people in her working-class neighborhood with high quality food from local farmers at a fair price. It was even featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Sadly, it is now shuttered due to the COVID crisis. After working without pay as a stay-at-home mom for several years, Sarah decided to enroll at Portland State University where she focused on planning sustainable cities. That's how she ended up spending the last decade helping urban leaders from around the world improve their places via the First Stop Portland program, best practices trips, and other educational endeavors, including lecturing to students here at home and to audiences around the world including in South Korea, China, Brazil and Canada. She resides in Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood, where 82nd Avenue meets Foster road, and can be spotted scooting around town on her e-bike, picking up groceries on her Xtracycle, running to catch the #10 & 14 buses, or enjoying the Douglas Firs in Mt. Scott Park park with her dog, Bacon.

Alex, Ben and Buddy wrap up 2021 and reflect on some of the highlights of the podcast thus far! With some of our favorite guests like Alek Skarlatos, Sara Gelser, Katherine Gehl, Tobias Read, Val Hoyle, Jessica Gomez, Dirk Vanderhart, The Knopp Family, and many many more, OR360 had nothing short of a successful foundation year, and the team is looking forward to all that is soon to come, including what is sure to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in Oregon history!

This may be our most surprising podcast episode to date. Folks may remember Jimmy Crumpacker as a candidate for Oregon's 2nd Congressional District in 2020, running as a staunchly conservative Republican (he had a popular ad that labeled him as a "Trumpbacker") to replace retiring Congressman Greg Walden. In a tight four-way race, he finished behind eventual winner Congressman Cliff Bentz, Knute Buehler, and Jason Atkinson. Now, Crumpacker is running again, this time in the new, ultra-competitive 5th Congressional District. He will face former Mayor Lori Chavez DeRemer in the primary (Congressman Kurt Schrader faces Jamie McLeod Skinner in the Democratic Primary). This episode starts with Jimmy's personal background, but veers quickly into a fascinating conversation on global geopolitics, including how the U.S. should handle China. This conversation on foreign affairs was the deepest of any we've had so far, and we really enjoyed it. We also talk about two of Jimmy's "celebrity donors", his beliefs on investing government funds, why 2020 was a challenging year for new candidates, and how he plans to appeal to voters of color this cycle.

Ron Noble spent his career in law enforcement before he entered the political fray as a state representative in House District 24 (Yamhill County). Bolstered by a reputation as a reasonable, moderate legislator, he is now running for the new, ultra-competitive 6th Congressional District, stretching from eastern Washington County all the way down to Salem, including Yamhill county.

Noble earned headlines for leading, along with Rep. Janelle Bynum, on a suite of 25 bills that helped reform policing and the criminal justice system. In this episode, we talk about how Noble has built the relationships necessary to pass bipartisan bills through the deep-blue state legislature, his views on COVID, racial justice issues, health care policy, and why he's running for Congress.

Senator Tim Knopp is a long-time figure in Oregon GOP politics. Starting off his political career as an insurgent candidate, he quickly rose to the peak of power of GOP power including serving as Majority Leader in the House and as the new Minority Leader in the Senate. We talk everything from redistricting and "the kicker" to why Governor Brown's approval ratings are so low and if Knopp describes himself as a conservative or moderate. The episode also features some really interesting discussion on how Knopp survived in a district President Biden won by more than double figures and the playbook that other GOP candidates can run with. Finally and maybe most importantly, Alex is forever banned from telling jokes on the podcast after another one falls flat.

Steve Novick is one of the most interesting figures in Oregon politics. He is funny, intelligent, and always entertaining. This was genuinely one of our most fun episodes to record and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it. We cover a lot of ground: the time he dropped the "f bomb" on Uber exec. and Obama alum David Plouffe, his thoughts on what's wrong with Portland and how to fix it, property tax reform (but in an interesting and easy-to-understand way!), and what Democrats need to do to avoid a red wave in 2022. Novick is a former Portland City Commissioner who ran the city's Transportation Bureau, where he clashed with Uber and advanced a controversial but ultimately successful gas tax proposal. He became a popular figure in progressive circles for his grassroots primary campaign for the United States Senate in 2008, when he ran a playful, creative, and competitive campaign but narrowly lost in the primary to now-Senator Jeff Merkley. He also has a deep experience in state level politics, working as the Oregon Senate Democrats caucus chief of staff for several years. He graduated from the University of Oregon at 18 and Harvard Law School at 21, and in this episode he explains how Oregon education funding is to blame for those achievements.

Kerry McQuisten is the Mayor of Baker City and running as a Republican for Governor. She's a 7th generation Oregonian and has done everything from serving in public office to running a successful publishing company. McQuisten made national headlines for declaring Baker a "common sense sanctuary" from Governor Brown's COVID-19 measures and hopes to use the popularity of her policies with the conservative grassroots to ride through the Republican primary and into the governor's mansion. We talk about everything from COVID-19 mandates to homelessness to urban-rural divide and Critical Race Theory. Ben and McQuisten also do a little left vs. right philosophy when it comes to key policy differences so prepare for some nerdiness. 

After a decade of activism, Cameron Whitten is fired up and optimistic about Portland's future! Cameron's political activism journey began on the streets during the 2011 occupy movement where he emerged as a key influencer of a hunger strike that lasted over a month. In the years that followed, Cameron ran for Portland city mayor and has been an active participant in the Black Lives Matter movement since its inception. During the height of Portland protests in the Summer of 2020, Cameron was able to raise over a million dollars in private cash donations, which were then redistributed to Portland residents in need. This laid the foundation for Cameron's non-profit work with Black Resilience Fund and Brown Hope they are conducting today. After receiving the Skidmore Prize, The Willamette Week recently referred to Cameron as Portland's Non-Profit "Superstar" and along with those efforts, Cameron most recently ran a tough campaign for OR Metro District 5, with a platform centered around affordable housing and reparations for Oregon's black community.

Jessica Gomez is a business leader and running as a Republican candidate for governor. Born in New York, she relocated to the Southern Oregon with her family at a young age where she later experienced family issues and homelessness. Jessica overcame these tough circumstances and moved on to found and serve as CEO of a successful semiconductor company that now employs nearly 30 people. She also serves on the board of trustees of the Oregon Institute of Technology and a number of other Southern Oregon community organizations. Jessica identified as a Democrat until the mid-2010s but is running on the platform of self-described "moderate" Republican who believes she can unify the state (and electorate) with her pro-business and education reform agenda. We have a wide ranging conversation and discuss everything from critical race theory to semiconductors and geopolitical competition with China (Alex finally got his China question). We also talk about what it means for Jessica to be the only major gubernatorial candidate who is a person of color and what a GOP agenda for racial justice might look like.