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Freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle declared victory after initial returns showed her with a significant lead Tuesday evening. The first batch of results, which includes most ballots cast prior to Election Day, showed Hoyle with a 53% to 44% lead over Republican Monique DeSpain.
In her first bid for reelection, Hoyle focused on the handful of bills she’s been able to carry over the finish line in Congress, and her advocacy for workers while she served as Oregon’s labor commissioner and abortion.
DeSpain, a retired Air Force Colonel and military lawyer, has focused on concerns about public safety and the troubles BOLI experienced while Hoyle was at the helm.
The race between the two women has also been contentious. Hoyle has accused DeSpain of misleading voters about DeSpain’s stance on abortion, and DeSpain has accused Hoyle of being corrupt for allowing BOLI to award an illegal grant to a nonprofit affiliated with cannabis company La Mota.
DeSpain has said she doesn’t support a national abortion ban and does support access to IVF and birth control.
Hoyle has said she wasn’t involved in awarding that grant, that she’s not under investigation and that she fully supports the inquiry into La Mota.
In an interview with KLCC at her election night watch party, Hoyle said she did her best during the campaign to focus on the issues that were most important to her, and voters.
“What I did was, instead of getting into the mud, instead of reacting to that, I just focused on my record," she said. "'here’s what I can do, and how do I help the people in this district the most.”'
Hoyle also thanked her supporters, and campaign team, who she said knocked on 30,000 doors across the district.
If voters send her back for another term, Hoyle has said she plans to pursue investments for housing and wildfire prevention and will work to improve access to healthcare.
Meanwhile, DeSpain said in a speech to supporters at a Lane County Republican Party event that she was not ready to concede.
“We took on the establishment, the naysayers, and tonight, we will await the results," said DeSpain. "I think it may be a few days.”
In a follow-up statement late Tuesday night, DeSpain said she looks forward to additional tallies Wednesday, and she'd address the results of the election after that point.
The next set of Oregon election results are scheduled to be released around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
As of 11:00 p.m. Tuesday, Hoyle had a 28,000 vote lead over DeSpain.
DeSpain has said she’s focused on improving border security and removing red tape that gets in the way of housing production and economic growth.
Hoyle has far outraised DeSpain, bringing in more than $2 million compared to DeSpain’s more than $700,000 haul.
Justin Filip, a Green Party candidate, and Dan Bahlen, a Libertarian candidate, were also on the ballot. In initial returns, Filip took 2% of the vote and Bahlen took 1%.
