Outgoing Medford mayor, a Republican, has maintained a big lead over Democrat Denise Krause, unofficial vote count shows
By Damian Mann for the Rogue Valley Times
Republican Randy Sparacino notched an apparent landslide victory Tuesday night in the race for Jackson County commissioner against Democrat Denise Krause of Ashland.
The unofficial results posted on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website on Thursday show Sparacino received 56.84%, or 62,603 votes, against Krause’s 43.04%, or 47,403 votes in the race for the position 2 commissioner seat. More mail-in ballots are being processed through Nov. 12. Final election results will be certified Dec. 2.
“It was a very tough campaign,” Sparacino told the Rogue Valley Times. “We campaigned really hard.”
Sparacino, who is the outgoing mayor of Medford, said he never thought it was a foregone conclusion that he would be victorious.
“I always go into whatever I’m doing cautiously,” he said.
Sparacino said he would be meeting with county officials, including Dave Dotterrer, the Jackson County commissioner he will be replacing, to get brought up to speed.
“The first order of business is to find out exactly what they’re working on right now,” he said.
Sparacino said he will spend considerable time on issues that he campaigned on: public safety, economic development, housing and homelessness.
Commissioner Dave Dotterrer, who endorsed Sparacino, said, “I’m very pleased to see that Randy was elected, and I know we share much philosophically.”
Dotterrer said that Sparacino will require some time to get used to the county’s way of doing business.
“There is a learning curve,” he said.
Some of the big issues that Sparacino will confront are figuring out a way to finance a new jail and a new animal shelter.
Other issues Sparacino campaigned on for the commissioner seat are similar to ones he pushed for as Medford mayor.
Medford has spent about $30 million to address homelessness since 2019, which has helped local organizations such as Rogue Retreat and ACCESS open shelter operations.
At the same time, the city has clamped down on illegal camping and has expanded the Medford Police Department Livability Team to patrol the downtown and the Bear Creek Greenway.
Illegal campsites are down 94% from a high of 257 in 2021 to 11 in September.
Medford has also helped build several low-income housing projects over the past decade, and others being planned.
Sparacino retired as Medford police chief in 2019 after a career in law enforcement that began in 1994.
Krause, a director on the Rogue Valley Transportation District board, said it was obvious Sparacino had won. The election results will be certified by Dec. 2.
“It doesn’t look close enough to overcome,” she said Tuesday night after early results came in. “I always knew it was going to be an uphill climb.”
She received almost the same percentage of voters — 42% — as when she ran for commissioner in 2022.
Krause said she was disappointed in the approximately 6,000 voters who didn’t vote for either candidate.
Krause said she’s also disappointed at the campaign dollars from The Chamber of Medford & Jackson County political action committee that bought radio and TV ads for various candidates, including $25,000 for Sparacino.
“This is about big money against regular people,” she said. “I’m really proud of the campaign we ran and the people who supported our campaign.”
Krause was the chief petitioner in the Jackson County for All campaign, which had three ballot measures in the May primary.
The ballot measure to cut Jackson County commissioners salaries to $75,000 received overwhelming support from voters, but was invalidated because the two other measures, which would have increased the size of the commissioner board from three to five and also made the position nonpartisan, both failed.
Reach freelance writer Damian Mann at [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.
