SALEM, Ore. – Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr (R-Dundee) and House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer (R-McMinnville) today criticized Democrat legislative leaders for announcing schemes to move the referendum on Governor Tina Kotek’s transportation tax package to the May 2026 primary election, calling the move a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters and shield elected Democrats from accountability.
After Governor Kotek insisted the Legislature should repeal the referred tax package outright, Democrat leaders now acknowledge that the Oregon Constitution prohibits repealing a measure once it has been referred to voters. Rather than allow the vote to proceed in November 2026 when participation is highest, their response is to fast track the election into a low-turnout primary, where far fewer Oregonians will have a voice and the risk of excluding unaffiliated, absentee, and military voters is significantly higher.
“This is politics, plain and simple, and the worst kind,” said Leader Starr. “Democrats spent months trying to keep voters from having a say at all. Now they want to rush it into a low-turnout primary because they know this tax package is deeply unpopular with voters. In a November election, nearly seven out of ten Oregonians vote. In a primary, it is closer to one out of three. That choice is about protecting politicians who voted for a massive gas tax increase, not giving voters a fair say.”
In Oregon’s most recent comparable election cycle, voter turnout reached just 37 percent overall and 15 percent among unaffiliated voters in the May 2022 primary. That figure jumped to 66 percent overall and 45 percent among unaffiliated voters in the November 2022 general election.
“Oregonians rallied together to refer the proposed transportation tax to the ballot in record time. For the first time, Democrats realized the power of a disenfranchised population. If this policy is so good, it should stand on its own — on a full, general election ballot. Trying to tuck it away in an off-cycle election only confirms what the people already know: this gas tax is unpopular, and the public deserves a real say,” said Leader Elmer.
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