McHaddad: What Oregon Republicans can Learn from Zohran Mamdani

“While you were partying, I studied the blade.” This 10-year-old Internet meme pokes fun a eschewing mainstream hobbies for developing special (albeit niche) skills. I’ve been a member of the Oregon Republican Party since 2014 when I moved to Union County for college. Throughout my time in this party I’ve seen high points, like Dennis Richardson’s election as Secretary of State. I’ve also seen low points, like Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s loss in the 2024 Congressional District 5 election. What I have rarely seen is Republicans getting serious about campaigning.

2022 was a high point for Oregon Republicans. With unprecedented support from the national party, we secured more popular votes for a Republican gubernatorial candidates than any previous election in state history; broke Democratic supermajorites in Salem; and grew the GOP Congressional delegation for the first time since the 1990’s. Other than these proud moments and Dennis Richardson’s election as Secretary of State in 2016, Oregon Republicans have been effectively locked out of Statewide and Congressional leadership since 2007. What should the party be doing, and what has it been doing instead?

In 2022, I was the only officer of the Oregon Republican Party to attend the ORP’s own voter integrity summit at the Dorchester Conference, which attempted to examine flaws in the state’s election process that could manipulate outcomes. While I understand that voters were concerned with voter fraud, I ultimately walked away more convinced that all of the State’s elections since the dreaded introduction of vote by mail in the 1990’s were above board. This is an unpopular analysis in Oregon Republican circles, but my own work as an elections officer working with three county clerks, as well as my interactions with the Secretary of State’s office as a campaign treasurer, have left me with the impression that not a single election outcome has been manipulated since Measure 60 was adopted in 1998. However, I can hardly attend any Republican gathering without conversations being dominated by what I can only view as conspiracy theories about voter fraud given the overwhelming amount of evidence in favor of election integrity. Unfortunately, this is what gets many conservative activists excited, and they do not bother with the real work of campaigning as a result.

One easy line to tow is to work so hard on the campaign trail that Democrats cannot justify cheating. But expressing that view is dishonest because I do not believe there is any cheating afoot. Many Republicans will stop reading and conclude that I’m an establishment hack blind to what they see. Show me the evidence of any stolen election, and I’ll gladly examine it. I have yet to be presented with any evidence of systemic voter fraud in 12 years of Oregon politics.

Now to Zohran Mamdani, the clickbait in the title. How did an unknown state legislator become one of the most powerful politicians in America overnight? Mayor Mamdani campaigned the old fashioned way, meeting with voters and building a massive field operation while promising solutions to pressing problems. One of the best campaign videos I have ever seen was Mamdani’s campaign pitch about food truck regulations: After discussing the impact of municipal regulatory burdens on the price of common street foods, his campaign promise was not to heap on more bureaucracy or pour taxpayer money into food security nonprofits where his donors were employed – his pledge was to reduce the price of permits and improve the permitting process, identified as the largest barriers to cheaper food. Since taking office, Mayor Mamdani’s focus has been on dealing with these kitchen table issues, rather than the woke media craze of the day. And New Yorkers trusted him when he backed an entirely new Democratic Congressional delegation in this week’s primaries, sending three fellow Socialists on a straight ticket to Congress.

Mayor Mamdani’s election was not the result of Democratic Party voter fraud, or else the Democratic Party would not be imploding over the fact that their pro-Deep State centrists lost otherwise winnable races. First, Mamdani’s supports actually campaigned for him by knocking on doors, making phone calls, and discussing his campaign with friends and neighbors over coffee and at community events. Most of them did not go around preaching a socialist revolution; they talked about New York City problems that the establishment choice, serial sexual harasser Governor Andrew Cuomo, was not going to do anything to solve.

Second, as Mamdani has focused on practical solutions to community issues, such as reducing regulatory burdens and prices, he has done so as a socialist. Very rightly, socialism is traditionally associated with violent government oppression in Joseph Stalin’s mold. For the last 6 months, socialism in New York has meant repairing 100,000 potholes. Now when campaigning as a Democratic Socialist, a Congressional candidate in New York is not haunted by the horrors of Mao Zedong. They are boosted by street repairs, and NYC voters have grown very comfortable with voting for an ideology they have very rapidly come to associate with more efficient and helpful government.

What are the takeaways for Oregon Republicans? For one, we need to focus on campaigning this summer and fall. Knock on doors. Make phone calls. Talk to friends. I cringed at a campaign event for a Republican once when their answer to the question of “what can Republicans do to win” was “vote Republican.” That is not enough – you have to volunteer Republican, making connections with voters before election day so that they trust you when you arrive on their doorstep to recommend candidates and ballot measures.

The Oregon Republican brand is commonly associated with niche opinions on immigration, social issues, and worst of all, election integrity. This vision will not win against an army of unions and other left-wing organizations that do in fact knock on doors, make phone calls, and build real human connections. When these organizers come to the door, both paid and unpaid, they bring a message of lackluster economic development, centrist ambivalence toward the general welfare, and emotional appeals to funding schemes that just go to funnel taxpayer dollars into opaque charities without results. But they are coming to the door, which Republicans are not doing.

Republican leaders in and outside of the statehouse need to be loud and proud about what they are doing or proposing to make Oregon better. Most hire their own staff to help knock on doors and make phone calls. But that is not enough. Republicans who care about the future of Oregon need to spread the word outside of election season of how well our elected officials are doing so that Beaver State conservatism entails economic empowerment, provision for the general welfare, and responsible management of our tax dollars. County parties and precinct committee people, as well as concerned conservatives, need to contact their candidates and volunteer to help them spread the word, knocking on as many doors and calling as many voters as possible. Ranting about voter fraud on Facebook will do nothing to get Christine Drazan elected. Meeting with your neighbors and talking about the job you lost, the high taxes you paid, or the housing you cannot afford is the knockout blow that Tina Kotek is betting Oregon Republicans will not strike at the heart of her machine.

The lessons from Zohran Mamdani are clear. Talk about issues that matter before election day so that when ballots come in the mail, voters decide to take a chance on a better future. Spend your spare time helping your favorite candidates campaign in your community. Winning the argument about kitchen table issues first will win more ideological victories down the road for the causes of life, the environment, and the future of our country. 18 million gulag prisoners can tell you that the warmth of Zohran Mamdani’s collectivism is bitter cold. We can turn the tide in Oregon against East Coast socialism if we actually volunteer for campaigns and focus on issues that matter to voters.