Can Democrat Nick Kristof run for governor? Oregon Supreme Court plans to issue decision Thursday – By Hillary Borrud (The Oregonian/OregonLive) / February 16, 2022
The Oregon Supreme Court plans to issue its decision Thursday morning answering Oregon’s biggest political question of the moment: Can Democrat Nick Kristof run for governor?
Kristof, a former New York Times columnist who grew up in Oregon, would likely be the only serious outsider candidate in the race given that several other potential frontrunners spent years in elected office or other Oregon politics jobs. Kristof has already reported raising $2.7 million.
But Secretary of State Shemia Fagan dealt Kristof’s candidacy what could turn out to be a death knell in early January, when she announced elections officials in her office had determined Kristof did not meet Oregon’s three-year residency requirement to run for governor. Elections officials pointed out that the former New York Times columnist kept a New York drivers license through December 2020, voted in New York in November 2020 and continued paying New York income taxes well past the November 2019 deadline for a 2022 gubernatorial candidate to establish residency in Oregon.
Kristof filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court in which he argued that although he and his wife, Sheryl Wu Dunn, own homes in both Scarsdale, New York, and the Oregon town of Yamhill, he always considered Oregon home and returned to the state every summer with his family, despite spending most of his time in New York and abroad for work.
