Leads increase for Johnston, Fields in commission races; money measures failing

##Kit Johnston

##John Linder

##Jason Fields

##Neyssa Hays

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Update 5/21: A Wednesday evening post of returns shows Jason Fields well on his way to an outright win in the three-way race for Position 3 with 51.11% of the vote and most ballots counted. 

Johnston maintained his lead with 56.3%.

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Update: In the 11:24 p.m. post of returns, Kit Johnston's percent of votes increased to 56.26%, and Jason Fields' percent of votes increased to 51.28%.

Johnston leads Linder 15,285 to 11,808. Fields has 14,053 votes, compared to 12,030 for Neyssa Hays (43.46%) and 1,269 for David Wall (4.63%).

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The first set of ballot returns posted by County Clerk Keri Hinton tonight at 8 p.m. show Commissioner Kit Johnston leading challenger John Linder 14,309  to 11,221, or 55.89% to 43.83% for Position 1.

For the open Position 3 seat on the Yamhill County Board of Commissioners, Jason Fields is leading Neyssa Hays with 13,161 votes to 11,414 votes, or 50.95% to 44.19%. David Wall of Newberg is in third with 1,204 votes, or 4.66%.

In the Sheridan Fire District, a 5-year levy was failing in first returns, 952 no votes to 465 yes, or 67.18% to 32.82%.

In Newberg, a 5-year levy for staffing, class sizes and programs in the school district also was failing, 5,673 no votes to 4,020 yes, or 58.53% to 41.47%.

And the statewide election on whether to increase the gas tax was failing by a huge margin, 584,915 no to 121,958 yes, or 82.75% to 17.25%, as of 8:30 p.m., according to results from the Oregon Secretary of State.

In the Yamhill County Commission races, Johnston, running for a second term, said he wants to continue working on major transportation projects like the Newberg-Dundee Bypass and interchanges on Highways 99 and 18, and to continue helping smaller cities in the county with infrastructure and other needs. He’s advocated for finding a location to build a new fairgrounds, including one proposal to swap Dayton Landing, a county park, with the city of Dayton for farmland on Lafayette Highway. 

Fields, a small business owner currently serving on the county budget committee and Chehalem Parks and Recreation board, platformed heavily on the idea that the county should own and operate a large amphitheater in conjunction with a new fairgrounds. He said revenue from an entertainment business could help pay for county services. 

Linder, who has served on the McMinnville School District Budget Committee for five years, said he wants to use his background as a financial analyst and investor to improve management of county business. He often railed against recent commissioners for being divisive and politicized. He said he wants to strengthen lines of communication with area businesses to grow the local economy.

Hays, a director for an outdoor education nonprofit who's been on the county parks board for 10 years, said she hopes to support the agricultural and natural resource industries. She campaigned that the county must prioritize seeking state and federal funding. Hays criticized the recent firing of a county grant writer, arguing that it's ineffective to have department heads writing grants. 

Hays and Linder ran in tandem throughout the campaign season with help from the Livability Oregon PAC, operated by Mary Kunkle of Dundee. The two were aligned on major issues including continuing the Yamhelas Westsider Trail (or at the least not selling the public right of way) and returning to a contract with SEDCOR for economic development services. The two also are in favor of some measure of a county Transient Lodging Tax.

Johnston and Fields campaigned in opposition to those ideas and argued the Yamhelas trail would never pass legal land use hurdles and the county must move on. They were supported by the No Tax Yamco PAC, operated by Amber Dawson of Newberg, and the Town and Country PAC, formed in 2023 by Forrest Peterson of McMinnville and Thomas Hammer of rural west Salem.

All four candidates often discussed the needs for more and improved parks, open space and recreation, although there were different visions of how that should be accomplished.