Take Back Oregon 2026

‼️Well would you look at that. Kotek- your smear campaign is not going to work… Here is a post by Nicole Riehl on Facebook spitting facts… 👇🏻👇🏻 I WAS IN THAT ROOM. So let’s talk about what actually happened. Governor Kotek’s campaign says Christine Drazan “skipped the vote to meet with business donors.” I helped coordinate that meeting. We were NOT there as “business donors.” We were Oregon small-business owners asking our government to LISTEN. That meeting happened eight days after my mom died. I was grieving, exhausted and still showed up because what is happening to small businesses in Oregon matters that much to me. Other business owners took time away from their businesses and families to show up too. We talked about taxes, regulation, permitting, employment costs and the barriers Oregon businesses are facing. Here’s the context that post leaves out: The bill Drazan missed passed 29–0. Her vote would not have changed the outcome. She spent that hour listening to Oregon business owners and was back in Salem that afternoon for a Senate committee hearing. And the article Kotek’s own campaign linked describes the meeting as a roundtable with business leaders discussing the challenges of operating and growing Oregon businesses and creating jobs. Yet somehow that became: “Skipped the vote to meet with business donors.” See how much context can disappear in six words? And here’s what makes this especially frustrating for me: I reached out to Governor Kotek’s office asking her to meet with us about these exact issues. Her office didn’t even respond to my email. Christine Drazan called me directly and listened to me. She the. Followed up with actions after the round table and still is following up and calling, 7 months later. She showed up. She listened. She took action. Then Kotek’s campaign turned the business owners her own office wouldn’t even respond to into a political attack line. I was there. I know why we were in that room. This isn’t about red vs. blue for me. It’s about telling the whole truth and listening to the people trying to keep businesses alive in this state. Governor Tina Kotek for Oregon, the invitation still stands. Come sit down with us as business owners. We have plenty to say. (Original post in comments)