Betsy Johnson

A little over two months since Democratic primary voters rejected his bid for an eighth term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, has bolted the party to endorse Betsy Johnson’s bid for governor.

“People are concerned with the far-right and they’re exhausted with the extremism on the left,” Schrader said in a statement. “It seems the extremes on both sides just want to fight, leaving the rest of us frustrated. I believe Betsy Johnson is the leader Oregon needs to move us forward.”

Kotek spokeswoman Katie Wertheimer said Schrader’s choice of Johnson underscored why he lost his own re-election bid.

“The fact is that Betsy Johnson’s votes – and Rep. Schrader’s – have been out of touch with the majority of Oregonians, especially in their shared opposition to common sense gun violence prevention bills,” Wertheimer said. 

Johnson, a former Democratic state senator from Columbia County, announced late last year that she would leave the Senate and the Democratic Party to make a rare bid for governor without party affiliation.

It’s a tactic that’s worked only once since Oregon became a state in 1859, when independent Julius Meier won a single term in 1930 at the height of the Great Depression.

Schrader’s district was radically redrawn under redistricting approved last year by the Legislature, under a plan shepherded by House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland.

At one point, Kotek agreed to give Republicans an equal number of seats on a redistricting committee, enraging Schrader who slammed the speaker’s unilateral action.

“Like shooting yourself in the head,” Schrader told Politico magazine.

The deal never went through and when the new congressional maps were unveiled, Schrader’s district was drawn to include less than half of his current constitutents.

Terrebonne attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner ran as a progressive alternative to Schrader, ending Schrader’s congressional career that began with his election in 2008. He will leave office when the new Congress elected in November is sworn into office in January.

Johnson, who lives in Columbia County, left the Democratic Party and the Oregon Senate to mount a run as an unaffiliated candidate. She must file nearly 24,000 valid signatures with the Secretary of State by Aug. 16 in order to be placed on the November ballot.

Johnson was endorsed earlier this year by former two-term Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, and former state Democratic Party of Oregon Chair  Margaret Carter of North Portland.

On the Republican side, Johnson has been endorsed by former U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith and 2018 GOP gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler.

If she qualifies for the ballot, Johnson would face Kotek and former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby.

McLeod-Skinner will face former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the GOP primary winner in the 5th district, to determine who will replace Schrader in the U.S. House.

The Bend Bulletin contributed to this report.