Brad Hicks, former Medford/Jackson County chief executive, to make bid for Oregon Senate seat held by Ashland Democrat Jeff Golden
By Damian Mann for the Rogue Valley Times
Brad Hicks, the longest-running CEO for the Chamber of Medford and Jackson County, is the first candidate to file for the Oregon Senate seat now held by Ashland Democrat Jeff Golden.
Hicks, a Republican who has never held a political office but has been actively involved in politics for 30 years, said the decision to run was prompted by frustration with the Legislature and encouragement from both Democrats and Republicans. He worked for the chamber for 28 years, 23 of which were as CEO.
He said he’s particularly concerned about issues such as the public firestorm over the state’s wildfire map, the sluggish economy that has led to companies fleeing the state, as well as the recently passed transportation package.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think I could make a difference,” he said. “I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think Oregon’s future was worth fighting for.”
Golden, who has been a state senator since 2018, said he hasn’t decided if he’ll run again and would respond to Hicks at that point. “I’ll be happy to when and if I decide to run,” he said.
It’s still early in the candidate filing season, which runs from Sept. 11 to March 10, 2026. According to the Oregon Secretary of State, Hicks filed his papers on Sept. 22.
Senate District 3, which encompasses the bottom half of Jackson County and includes both Medford and Ashland, has a fairly strong Democratic advantage, though that advantage has eroded somewhat in recent years.
In the May 2022 primary election, there were 32,759 registered Democrats and 25,236 Republicans, according to Jackson County Elections. As of Oct. 2, there were 31,969 Democrats, a decline of 790. Republicans numbered 25,442, a 206 increase. Nonaffiliates, or those who aren’t registered with any political party number 36,371 and are the largest voting bloc in the district.
Other Democrats and Republicans could come forward to run for the seat, which has had a history of being hard-fought by Republicans and Democrats.
Apart from former Republican Sen. Alan DeBoer’s three years in office, the Senate District 3 seat has been occupied by Democrats for more than two decades.
Medford Councilor Kevin Stine is thinking about running but said he will focus on passage of a lodging tax increase in November that will be used to kickstart a major downtown redevelopment project, known as Creekside Quarter.
Stine said he would wait until Golden declares his intentions to seek another term.
“If it’s an open seat, then there is a likelihood I would go in,” he said.
Hicks said he’s been asked on many occasions over the past 30 years to run for office. He said he’s worked for three legislators and a Congressman, and said the only office he ran for was class president at North Valley High School in Grants Pass.
He’s also been involved in pushing for legislative action on transportation and economic issues Hicks said he’s felt frustration in the past about the direction the state has taken, particularly with Democrats holding super majorities in the Legislature that led to a recently passed 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax.
“I spent a lot of my career advocating for transportation funding,” he said.
The Legislature passed the tax or risked dealing with less maintenance on Oregon’s road system.
According to an Aug. 27 Oregon Capital Chronicle article, at the end of the legislative session in July, lawmakers set aside $472 million from the state’s general fund to help buffer against expected tax revenue losses in the next biennium caused by the Republican tax and spending cut law that President Donald Trump deemed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
That amount just covered over half of the $888 million in revenue losses expected by state economists.
Hicks said he criticized the way Democrats pushed the transportation bill through, saying they didn’t listen to Republicans who proposed spending cuts to pay for transportation rather than a tax hike. “Those options weren’t considered and that’s upsetting,” he said.
Hicks criticized the state 2020 wildfire map that identified at-risk properties and created an uproar when many homeowners polices were dropped, though insurance companies and regulators say there was no link.
Golden voted for the 2020 map, but ultimately voted to repeal it in 2022, saying a misinformation campaign had become a distraction. He said at the time that insurance companies had their own internal maps. Over the past decade, Oregon has gone through unprecedented years of wildfires.
Hicks said the state economy has been battered because of policies that have driven companies out of the state, citing Dutch Bros moving out of its hometown of Grants Pass to Phoenix, Arizona.
“Oregon, it’s become the economic development center for Texas and Arizona,” he said.
Hicks said he hasn’t formed an opinion on whether its appropriate to send troops into Portland.
“Portland today doesn’t look like the Portland I went to years ago,” he said. “I think for anybody to say that everything in Portland is ‘okay’ is not the right response.”
He said his impression of Portland is that homeless people have overrun the downtown and are engaged in unacceptable behavior.
While Medford has homeless issues, which have also been criticized by residents and business, Hicks said he didn’t think it required sending in the troops. “No, of course not,” he said, adding that Oregon is in the midst of a mental health crisis.
Hicks said that he will work with both Republicans and Democrats if he wins the seat. “I have great friends on both sides of the aisle,” he said.
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at dmannnews@gmail.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.
