NICHOLAS KRISTOP CANNOT RUN FOR OREGON GOVERNOR, Supreme Court Says
Truenewsblog – The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof cannot run for governor because he does not qualify for the state’s three-year residency permit.
The judges upheld a decision by Oregon election officials that Kristof did not qualify to run for Oregon’s highest office, noting specifically that Kristof had voted in the 2020 New York election.
Questions about Kristof’s residency had dogged him even before he announced his candidacy in October, the same month the New York Times announced his resignation. Under Oregon law, candidates for governor must have been residents of that state for at least three years prior to the election.
Kristof called the verdict “of course very disappointing” in a tweet.
He added: “But while I will not stand for election, I am not giving up our state. I know we can be better.”
The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner was a global foreign correspondent and columnist for years, and Kristof’s attempt to run for governor as a Democrat drew a lot of interest. He has raised $2.7 million in campaign funds.
Kristof, 62, told election officials in an affidavit that he moved to a farm in Yamhill, Oregon with his parents in 1971 when he was 12 and has called it his home ever since.
Since then he has bought more land nearby. His attorneys said he paid taxes on the properties and filed Oregon income tax returns for 2019 and 2020.
Oregon Elections Director Deborah Scroggin and Compliance Specialist Lydia Plukchi told Kristof that they rejected his bid for governor because he did not meet the constitutional requirements to run.
Kristof’s attorneys told the Supreme Court that the Secretary of State’s broad interpretation of the constitutional requirements for governors could disadvantage candidates like Kristof, who travel frequently and have multiple residences.
Kristof regularly visited his Oregon estate, which he expanded over the years after moving away to attend Harvard and Oxford Universities before joining the Times.
Three former Oregon secretaries of state sided with Kristof, saying in a newspaper article that “a person should be assumed to reside in the place or places that he considers home.”
“It’s clear he considers Oregon ‘home,'” wrote Jeanne Atkins, Bill Bradbury and Phil Keisling of Kristof.
Democrats have held the office of Governor of Oregon since 1987. Candidates currently running for governor include Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives Tina Kotek and State Treasurer Tobias Read.
After the ruling that barred Kristof from running, Kotek tweeted that Kristof’s “voice will continue to matter as we address Oregon’s biggest issues. I look forward to working with him as a fellow Democrat.”
Republicans seeking their party’s nomination include Rep. Christine Drazan, former Republican nominee Bud Pierce and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam.
Former Democratic Senator Betsy Johnson is running as an independent.