GOP Candidate Leads Gubernatorial Race In Deep Blue State, Poll Finds

Chris Dudley, a Republican candidate for Oregon governor, has emerged as the leader in a recent hypothetical general-election poll against incumbent Democrat Tina Kotek.

Dudley, who has never held elected office, brings a background as a former professional athlete and private-sector executive. He played 16 seasons in the NBA, six of which were spent with the Portland Trailblazers.

After retiring from basketball in 2003, Dudley pursued a business career. He co-founded Filigree Wealth Advisors, a wealth management firm, and later served as board chairman and chief executive officer of Diabetomics, a medical diagnostics company. He also founded the Chris Dudley Foundation, a nonprofit focused on supporting children with diabetes, and held the position of treasurer for the NBA Players Association

A new poll, which was commissioned by Dudley’s campaign and conducted by the Portland-based Hoffman Research Group, surveyed 603 likely general-election voters from May 11-12 and carried a margin of error of +/- four percentage points.

In the head-to-head matchup, Dudley received 48 percent support compared with 44 percent for Kotek. A separate hypothetical pairing showed state Sen. Christine Drazan of Canby, a Republican, tied with Kotek at 45 percent each.

The survey also found that 53 percent of respondents held an unfavorable view of Kotek, while 33 percent viewed her favorably. In addition, 58 percent of those polled said Oregon is headed in the wrong direction.

Pollsters did not test a matchup with the third prominent Republican candidate, state Rep. Ed Diehl of Scio

The poll arrives less than a week before the May 19 Republican primary, which will narrow the field for the general election under Oregon’s vote-by-mail system. Both Dudley and Drazan were described in the poll summary as competitive with the incumbent governor, with Dudley being the only one tested who showed a lead in the hypothetical matchup.

Any eventual Republican nominee will likely face a difficult general election campaign, as Oregon has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 1994, when Jack Roberts won election as labor commissioner. The last Republican to win the governorship was Victor Atiyeh, who secured re-election in 1982.

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