Oregon could see first Republican governor in 40 years as polls tilt away from Democrats

Republican Christine Drazan, far left, and Democrat Tina Kotek listen to Betsy Johnson speak at the Oregon gubernatorial debate on 29 July. Photograph: Jamie Valdez/AP

For the first time in more than 40 years, a Republican could win the governor’s seat in Oregon, breaching the seemingly solid Democratic line of states running along the Pacific coastline of the US.

The tight race between the former Oregon house speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat, and former Oregon house minority leader Christine Drazan, a Republican, which in the latest polling showed Drazan with a hairline lead, indicates a rebuff of the current term-limited liberal governor, Kate Brown.