The Oregon Tea Party had no intention of endorsing a gubernatorial candidate in the Republican Primary this year, but as the campaign season has unfolded, one thing has become clear: only one candidate has a chance of defeating ultra-liberal, Soros-supported Kate Brown in November.
That man’s name is Greg Wooldridge.
Independent polling data, shared privately with OTP in the last 24 hours, showed a double digit surge for Wooldridge in the last week to be in the margin of error for the lead – making this a horse race between Wooldridge and Buehler. Carpenter, on the other hand, is continuing the slide that was shown in his own recent polling, and continues to trail the leaders in the race.
This endorsement became necessary as we observed the evolution of the primary election among the GOP candidates. It’s long been known that supposed front runner Knute Buehler is insufficiently conservative. His stances on guns, abortion, a carbon tax, and a whole host of other issues important to conservatives make him a non-starter. Beyond that, his lack of leadership has made this race unnecessarily close for so well-funded a candidate. Simply put, Knute does not provide the leadership skills, or any meaningful contrast to Kate Brown. Because of that, we don’t think he can win against #KorruptKate in November.
Then we get to Sam Carpenter. On the surface, Carpenter’s platform seems compatible with Tea Party principles. But we’ve already documented the lies and the bad behavior coming from Sam and his campaign manager. Sam has faded in this race over the past several weeks as he has doubled down on attacking and demeaning his potential supporters on social media. His campaign manager has behaved even worse, reflecting poorly on Sam’s judgment and integrity. The more Sam’s character is exposed, the more poorly he performs. This lack of integrity calls into question his dedication to conservative principles.
The best leaders bring people together, they don’t drive them apart. The Oregon Tea Party has always stood on principles and integrity. We represent the average voter, the good and decent people of Oregon who are tired of the political elites telling them what’s best for them. Being tea party is about having the right principles, but also about being good and respectful citizens, and we believe those two things to be essential to an executive office as well. We even cleaned up our trash after every rally, leaving things better than how we found them.
It now becomes obvious that we should take the step to endorse the only decent conservative with a shot to defeat both Buehler and Brown, retired US Navy Captain Greg Wooldridge.
Captain Wooldridge possesses the leadership, the positive character, and most importantly, the courage of his convictions to deliver – at long last – a win for a conservative governor in Oregon. In short, he provides hope.
Greg’s resume is impressive. His personal sacrifices and dedication to service will serve him well in a Mahonia Hall that desperately deserves a change from the corruption and cronyism that has dogged the Democrats who have occupied the office for three decades.
His natural leadership recently led him to write a letter to President Trump asking for a full pardon for the Dwight and Steve Hammond of Harney County. This is the type of leadership lacking from Kate Brown, as well as the other Republican candidates in the race.
It’s time for a change. It’s time for Oregonians to be inspired again. It’s time for Greg Wooldridge.