Nods go to Stephenson, Merkley and Brock Smith

We have three races on today’s endorsement menu, and in our estimation, the vast majority of you should be able to join us in making easy calls on them.

In the non-partisan race for commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries — the only statewide position joining the governorship on this year’s ballot - incumbent Christina Stephenson is facing a challenge from former bureau employee Chris Lynch. Because there are only two candidates, that one will be decided in the May 19 primary.

In the partisan race for one of Oregon’s U.S. Senate seats, three-term incumbent Jeff Merkley has drawn a challenge from frequent filer Paul Damian Wells in the Democratic primary. Seven hopefuls are seeking the Republican nomination — Brent Barker, David Brock Smith, Deborah Brown, David Burch, Russell McAlmond, Jo Rae Perkins and Timothy Skelton.

Let’s cut to the chase: In addition to Stephenson and Merkley, we’re endorsing longtime coastal legislator Brock Smith, the only GOP Senate candidate boasting the kind of resume befitting a contender for high federal office.

Born and raised in Hillsboro, Stephenson holds a bachelor’s degree in international politics from American University and a law degree from the University of Oregon.

Before being elected to head BOLI in 2022, she served as a civil rights attorney with Meyer Stephenson, a firm she co-founded. That work dovetailed with BOLI’s core mission of protecting worker rights.

After graduating from Lincoln High, Lynch spent more than two decades as a busboy, dishwasher, delivery driver, roofer, bike messenger, picture framer, woodworker and office manager. He signed on with BOLI as an unpaid intern in 2005 and advanced into management ranks before leaving to join Oregon OSHA in 2019.

Both candidates agree with a Secretary of State audit finding the agency to be badly understaffed and underfunded, and Stephenson has been working on that during her tenure. She has won additional support from the Legislature, albeit limited and grudging, and used it to chip away at longstanding backlogs.

Lynch seems well-meaning, but out of his league in seeking an agency helm being capably managed by Stephenson.

She has stirred few if any newsworthy ripples, and that’s a good thing. BOLI rarely makes headlines, and when it does, something has typically gone terribly wrong.

Sen. Merkley holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford and master’s degree from Princeton. After working in the Congressional Budget Office post-graduation, he returned to Portland in 1991 to become executive director at Habitat for Humanity.

He was elected to the Oregon House in 1998 and advanced to the speakership in 2006. He won election to the U.S. Senate in a surprise 2008 upset of Republican incumbent Gordon Smith, and has easily fended off challengers since. He has built a national reputation in Washington and helped lead opposition to Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian impulses.

Damian Wells is a Marine Corps veteran with an electrical engineering bachelor’s from Purdue and master’s from Portland State.

Now retired, he’s been challenging officeholders for failing, in his estimation, to fully embrace election and campaign finance reform. He’s pledged to write in “None of the Above” for all federal offices on his general election ballot.

We think Merkley has earned another chance to carry the banner for his party, and displays the skills, credentials and backing to easily brush by Wells’ protest candidacy.

David Brock Smith, Merkley’s likely November foe, is a third-generation Curry County resident who spent 45 years running a family restaurant operation. A Southern Oregon University grad, he claimed a seat in the state House in 2017 and state Senate in 2023.

A staunch conservative, he opposes vote by mail, disputes Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and denies human involvement in climate change. But he’s as moderate as it gets in this crowd.

Brent Barker has earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Cal State Chico, and engaged in studies in dispute resolution at the law school at Pepperdine. He has made his living in commercial real estate sales in Arizona, California and Oregon.

In previous bids, he placed a distant fourth for labor commissioner in 2022 and a distant second for the GOP secretary of state nomination in 2024. He lists the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as one of his affiliations.

Deborah Brown has served as an auditor, small business owner and civil engineer. If elected, she promises to bring common sense to Congress.

Having spent 20 years on the federal payroll, she has endorsed Elon Musk’s DOGE campaign to shrink its ranks to reduce waste. She also advocates for parental rights, family values, religious freedom, reduced crime, gun rights, fair elections and deportation of “all illegals.”

Medford native David Burch, a high school grad with some community college credits, bills himself as a politician and YouTube content creator. He sought a congressional nomination in 2022, earning 406 votes, and gubernatorial nomination in 2024, with 1,447 votes.

Ex-Marine Russell McAlmond is a certified financial planner from Josephine County. A married father of three, he has run local races previously and established a contentious online presence.

Albany resident Jo Rae Perkins is making her sixth U.S. House or Senate bid. She won GOP Senate nominations in 2020 and 2022, but lost by wide margins in the ensuing general elections.

She’s a vocal election denier and QAnon advocate. She participated in the Jan. 6 march on the Capitol in 2021, but said she remained outside and engaged in no violence.

Her record reflects bankruptcy filings in 1997 and 2009, criminal filings for harassment and hindering prosecution in 2005, an investment firm dismissal for cause in 2008 and a Certified Financial Planner revocation in 2010. But none of that seems have diminished her support on the party’s right flank.

Timothy Skelton is a 43-year resident of Sandy. He’s a married father of three and a longtime Scoutmaster. Living paycheck to paycheck himself, he wants to show “working-class folks — not just millionaires — can lead with impact.”

Comparing records, resumes and platforms, it seems clear that David Brock Smith would be the GOP’s best hope in what figures to be a decidedly uphill Senate run — and that settling on Jo Rae Perkins again would be a major embarrassment.

Endorsement plan

Continuing a newspaper tradition dating back 250 years, we have embarked on a series of endorsements reflecting our editorial views on measures and contested candidate races going before McMinnville voters in the May 19 primary.

No locally relevant congressional, legislative or judicial races are listed as none are being contested in the primary. There is a contested local county clerk race, but it will not go to the voters until November.

Our endorsements will conclude Friday, May 1, in conjunction with the mailing of ballots. The schedule follows, with decisions noted insofar as they’ve been made:

April 3: Referendum on transportation package featuring 6-cent gas tax hike, yes to enact and no to repeal: Yes.

April 10: Democratic gubernatorial nomination: Incumbent Tina Kotek over Forest Alexander, James Atkinson, Donnie Beckwith, David Beem, Brittany Jones, Cal Kishawi, Steve William Laible, Tristan Sheppard and Miranda Weigler.

Republican gubernatorial nomination: Christine Drazan over Chris Dudley, Ed Diehl, Danielle Bethell, Hope Dalrymple, Kyle Duyck, David Medina, Robert Neuman, Brad T. Peters, Paul Romero, DeAngelo Turner, Wen Waddell, Martin Ward and Kim Youker.

April 17: Non-partisan office of state labor commissioner: Incumbent Christina Stephenson over challenger Chris Lynch.

Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate: Incumbent Jeff Merkley over challenger Paul Damien Wells.

Republican nomination for U.S. Senate: David Brock Smith over Brent Barker, Deborah Brown, David Burch, Russell McAlmond, Jo Rae Perkins and Timothy Skelton.

April 24: Non-partisan office of county commissioner, position 1: Incumbent Kit Johnston and challenger John Linder.

May 1: Non-partisan office of county commissioner, position 3: Jason Fields, Neyssa Hays and David Wall.