Oregon primary election results: Val Hoyle elected to lead Bureau of Labor and Industries

In a vic­to­ry for the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty of Ore­gon, vot­ers in the Beaver State have decid­ed to keep the office of Com­mis­sion­er of the Bureau of Labor and Indus­tries (which is a non­par­ti­san posi­tion) in pro­gres­sive hands by elect­ing Val Hoyle.

“I am hon­ored that the vot­ers of Ore­gon had faith in my mes­sage to show up for work­ing peo­ple, fam­i­lies and jobs,” Hoyle said fol­low­ing her victory.

“Ore­go­ni­ans have cho­sen a true cham­pi­on for work­ers in Val Hoyle as Labor Com­mis­sion­er,” said Demo­c­ra­t­ic Chair Jeanne Atkins. “She has a his­to­ry of stand­ing up for Ore­go­ni­ans and fight­ing for jus­tice. Despite her oppo­nents’ attempt to smear her char­ac­ter and dis­tort her posi­tions, vot­ers saw through it and chose the best can­di­date for the seat. I am glad, but not sur­prised, to see her win out­right and look for­ward to work­ing with her on the cam­paign trail in the com­ing months.”

Hoyle had been locked in an unex­pect­ed­ly close race with Repub­li­can Lou Ogden, the may­or of Tulatin, which is a sub­urb of Port­land. But she was able to prevail.

Had Hoyle not gar­nered more than fifty per­cent of the vote, the con­test would have head­ed to a runoff. But with a major­i­ty secured, the cam­paign can come to an end.

Incum­bent Com­mis­sion­er Brad Avi­akin opt­ed not to seek reelec­tion this year, which meant the posi­tion was an open seat. Democ­rats in Ore­gon made elect­ing Hoyle a top pri­or­i­ty in this mon­th’s pri­ma­ry elec­tion, vow­ing to hold on to the office.

Hoyle, the for­mer Demo­c­ra­t­ic Major­i­ty Leader in the Ore­gon State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, left the Leg­is­la­ture last cycle when she ran for Sec­re­tary of State. Her cam­paign was unsuc­cess­ful, how­ev­er, and Lane Coun­ty Com­mis­sion­ers passed her over when a State Sen­ate vacan­cy came open in the Eugene area.

But now she is set to rep­re­sent Ore­go­ni­ans as their Com­mis­sion­er of Labor and Indus­tries, after hav­ing fend­ed off a chal­lenge from Ogden.

Elec­tion Night Results for Bureau of Labor & Indus­tries Commissioner

• Lou Ogden (Sup­port­ed by the Repub­li­can Par­ty: 35.34% (193,615 votes)
• Val Hoyle (Sup­port­ed by the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty): 51.62% (282,802 votes)
• Jack Howard: 12.66% (69,341 votes)
• Write-in can­di­dates: 0.39% (2,130 votes)

Total votes: 547,888