A Muñoz victory gives House Democrats the three-fifths supermajority needed to pass revenue-raising bills without GOP support.
By Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon Democrats appear to have eked out a supermajority in both the state House and Senate, with a narrow win confirmed in a rural Woodburn-based House seat late Tuesday.
Tuesday was the deadline for voters to fix missing or mismatched signatures on their ballot envelopes. Campaign staff and volunteers for Rep. Tracy Cramer, R-Gervais, and Democratic challenger Lesly Muñoz have spent days tracking down voters to make sure their ballots were counted in the closest race for an Oregon House seat.
Muñoz, a labor organizer from Woodburn, appears to have prevailed by just 161 votes out of more than 20,800 cast in the 22nd House District in northern Marion County. Her victory doesn’t just mean Democrats regain the seat they lost two years ago — it gives House Democrats the three-fifths majority needed to increase taxes or pass new taxes without Republican support. That’s especially notable heading into the 2025 session, as lawmakers work to craft a multi-billion-dollar transportation funding package.
Muñoz described her victory as a win for farmworkers in a statement issued by the farmworkers’ union Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste, which supported her campaign with bilingual calls and canvasses. The district is the only majority-minority Oregon House district, and nearly 48% of its residents are Hispanic.
“Farmworkers need a seat at the table in our state legislature,” Muñoz said in a statement. “Recently farmworkers won the same overtime protections all other Oregon workers enjoy, and now we have a voice in Salem to fight for equal rights in other areas.”
Democratic leaders in the House cheered the news, with House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, saying Oregonians sent a clear message by electing Democrats that they want everyone to have the freedom and opportunity to succeed.
“House Democrats will protect what makes Oregon special and show that this state is for everyone. We take this responsibility seriously,” Bowman said. “In the 2025 session, we will improve the lives of all Oregonians with a focus on affordability, making government work and keeping Oregonians safe. It’s time to get to work delivering results for working people and protecting Oregonians’ basic rights and freedoms.”
Muñoz trailed Cramer in initial results published Nov. 5, but she overtook the Republican incumbent as Marion County processed more ballots. The county, home to Oregon’s capital, was slower to count ballots than some other jurisdictions because of a high number of write-in votes that take election workers more time to process, county clerk Bill Burgess told the Capital Chronicle earlier this month.
Burgess said Tuesday that campaign staff were observing ballot counting and that Cramer had asked about a recount. Under state law, recounts occur automatically if the gap between the top two candidates is less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the total votes cast — in this case, about 42 votes. Otherwise, candidates can pay for recounts.
A spokesman for Cramer didn’t immediately return a call or text message Wednesday.
Julia Shumway has reported on government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, spent time at the Bend Bulletin and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix, Arizona.
