Job Losses Put Kotek’s Economic Record in the Spotlight as Drazan Calls Oregon’s Economy a “Train Wreck”

Oregon — Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan used a Portland business forum to argue that Oregon has lost economic ground during Gov. Tina Kotek’s term. Her campaign pointed to job losses, rising bankruptcy filings, homelessness and the state’s place in a national business ranking. Kotek, meanwhile, has pursued housing construction, semiconductor investment and changes intended to speed business development.

The latest employment figures support Drazan’s concern about recent job growth, though they do not establish what caused it. Oregon’s unemployment rate was 5.1% in August 2026, and the state had 10,900 fewer nonfarm payroll jobs than a year earlier, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Those figures describe a one-year decline, not the campaign’s broader claim that tens of thousands of Oregonians lost their jobs over Kotek’s term. They also cannot, on their own, separate the effects of state policy from national economic conditions.

Drazan also cited Oregon’s fall to 42nd in CNBC’s 2026 ranking of states for business, down from 39th the previous year. The ranking measures a range of conditions, including costs, infrastructure, workforce and business friendliness. It is evidence of a weaker relative position among states, but it is not a direct count of businesses closing or jobs lost. Oregon Business & Industry’s review of the ranking identifies infrastructure and technology as areas where the state performed relatively well.

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The campaign’s 35% homelessness figure reflects the increase between Oregon’s 2023 and 2025 point-in-time counts. That is a serious deterioration in the statewide count during Kotek’s tenure. Interpreting it requires care, however: the count is a snapshot, shelter capacity expanded during that period, and Multnomah County changed its counting method, complicating some comparisons. Kotek’s administration reports that its emergency response added or maintained shelter beds, rehoused people and helped households avoid homelessness. Those efforts have not erased the statewide increase recorded in 2025.

Oregon bankruptcy filings have risen, but the campaign did not identify a time period or measure for its claim that they reached “record highs.” Federal court statistics allow a comparison across years. Bankruptcy filings have also increased nationally, so an increase in Oregon alone would not establish that state policy caused it.

Kotek’s most prominent economic policy has been housing. On taking office in 2023, she set a target of 36,000 new homes per year, arguing that a larger supply is needed to address affordability and homelessness. Her administration has backed housing funding, land and infrastructure measures, and changes meant to make development approvals more predictable. The governor said in December that nearly 14,000 affordable homes had been financed or opened with state support, while more than 40,000 potential future homes had entered a development pipeline. Pipeline projects are not completed homes, and the production target remains a measure against which to judge the policy’s results.

Kotek also signed Oregon’s 2023 semiconductor legislation, which committed state resources to competing for chip manufacturing and research projects. More recently, she advanced a Prosperity Roadmap and signed a 2026 economic development package that creates a faster permitting path for qualifying major projects, prepares industrial sites and updates targeted incentives. Those changes address obstacles businesses have raised, although their effects on investment and employment will take time to measure.

Other decisions affect business costs. In 2026, Kotek signed a tax bill that keeps Oregon from adopting some federal tax deductions, including bonus depreciation beginning in tax year 2026, while also creating a targeted job-creation credit and expanding the state earned income credit. Businesses may weigh those provisions differently depending on their investments and tax position.

Drazan said Kotek gave Oregon’s business climate a “B” at the forum and accused her of offering no credible turnaround plan. The grade and Drazan’s characterization are political judgments. The measurable picture is mixed: Oregon has lost jobs over the past year and slipped in a prominent business ranking, while Kotek has enacted policies aimed at housing supply and business investment. Whether those policies produce enough jobs, homes and lower costs remains a central question in the governor’s race.