Real Clear Politics Says the Oregon Governor’s Race Now a “Tossup”

The national website aggregates polling data and had been reporting the race between Kate Brown and Knute Buehler "leans Dem."

Rep. Knute Buehler. (courtesy of the Buehler for Governor campaign)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The race between incumbent Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, and her main challenger, state Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend) is tightening, according to the website Real Clear Politics.

Real Clear Politics aggregates polling data from around the country but also relies on a team of reporters and columnists for its content.

As is customary, neither Brown nor Buehler's campaigns is releasing polling at this point. Two recently released polls done independent of the campaigns yielded pretty different results.

A Hoffman Research poll done by Portlander Tim Nashif two weeks ago put Brown ahead by 10 points. A poll released this week by Leona Consulting, which works with GOP candidates, put Brown ahead by just one point, with a margin of error of 3.8 percent. That poll was done by Clout, an Ohio firm that gets low scores for accuracy.

Bottom line: Some people outside Oregon think the race is close, a point with which many political insiders would agree.

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