Listen to candidates Michael Summers (R) and Anthony Broadman (D), who are running for Oregon's Senate 27 seat, and at broad brush, it might be hard to distinguish between them. Both see housing and housing affordability as the top issues for this campaign. Both talk about the need to adequately fund schools. Both want to see more geographic equity in Oregon's transportation funding. Both are known quantities in their respective communities — current elected officials serving with fairness and professionalism.
But it's in the details where the differences bear out. On the topic of housing, for example, Summers spoke of supporting ADUs in the rural parts of the county as a solution for building housing supply — something that, as Broadman then detailed, is actually already in place through 2019's HB 2001. Deschutes County passed new rules in November that allowed rural landowners to apply for ADU permits.
Broadman then detailed other bills he's helped work on to increase available land, including HB 3318, which allowed Bend a one-time expansion of its urban growth boundary to build more affordable and workforce housing. Since that bill was co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Tim Knopp, it could have been low-hanging fruit for Summers to cite this bill as an example of the bipartisan work he'd also do to increase housing supply.
To put it plainly, Broadman is simply more prepared to hit the ground running in this important role for Central Oregon. He's more versed in the issues, and more solutions oriented.
While Summers is an amiable candidate who touts his willingness to work across the aisle, there appear to be limits to that. Case in point: his stance on the issue of walkouts.
This particular election, perhaps more than most, is something of a referendum on the Senate Republican walkouts that occurred over several legislative sessions. Outgoing Sen. Knopp, the Senate minority leader with a fine measure of power in Salem, gambled with his legislative career by participating in a walkout, and is now ineligible to run this term. Losing Knopp is a big loss for Republicans in the Legislature and the constituency he represents. Voters want to hire people who are committed to doing their jobs and can stay in that job. Broadman was clear that walkouts were wrong when Democrats participated in them more than two decades ago and opposes them now. Summers gave a less-definite answer, calling for more bipartisanship in the Legislature — fair — but did not answer the question definitively on an issue that is central to the campaign. We believe voters want to see a candidate who's seeking to take Knopp's place denounce walkouts. As much as we'd like to see an Oregon where this isn't a big issue in a race, in this case, it is. Even while he disclosed that Knopp asked him to run for this seat, Summers had an opportunity to distance himself from the type of partisanship that shut down important work in the Legislature, which had very real impacts on Oregonians.
For Oregon Senate 27, vote Anthony Broadman.
