The Oregon Supreme Court says Nick Kristof, the former New York Times columnist who quit his newspaper job to run for Oregon governor, cannot appear on the state’s May primary ballot.
The justices’ decision, anticipated for the past several weeks, will fundamentally change the dynamics of the race to replace Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. Kristof has far outpaced the other two best-known Democratic primary candidates, former House Speaker Tina Kotek and State Treasurer Tobias Read. And he’s pitching himself to voters as the sole true outsider in the race in a year in which poll after poll has shown Oregonians frustrated with the current state of their state.
The justices’ decision also helps answer an unusual but important question: What does it mean, at least for political purposes, to be a resident of Oregon?
In January, Oregon election officials ruled Kristof did not meet the three-year residency requirements established in the state’s constitution and therefore could not run to be governor. Oregon election officials ruled that to meet the three-year residency requirement for this year’s gubernatorial race, a person must be a resident in Oregon for the entire three-year period starting in November 2019.
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said there was a mountain of “objective evidence” showing Kristof considered himself a New York resident until recently. That evidence included Kristof’s decision to vote in New York in 2020. Kristof also had a New York driver’s license that year.
But Kristof and his lawyers have argued for months that he grew up in Yamhill, still owns and maintains a farm there and has always considered Oregon his home. They added that the historical point of having a residency requirement in the Oregon constitution was to exclude those who were unfamiliar with the state, and that Fagan gave “no weight to forty years of published writings in which Kristof” claimed Yamhill was his home.
At the start of his political campaign, Kristof positioned himself as an outsider and said Fagan - a longtime politician with ties to the Democratic establishment - was basing her decision on “politics, not precedent.”
Kristof, a first time candidate with no governing experience is a political newcomer. But he’s managed to amass significantly more money than Kotek and Read. Kristof has raised more than $2.5 million in the race and continued raising money while awaiting the court’s ruling.
It is the first time a state court has considered the constitutional residency requirement for Oregon governors.
This story will be updated.
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