Oregon is a reliably blue state, at least when it comes to races for President, Governor and the U.S. Senate. It’s surprising then that in a year in which the political landscape favors Democrats, the party is sweating the Governor’s race as Democratic Gov. Kate Brown seeks to win a full term. The contest has now landed in the Toss Up column. Part of Brown’s problem may well be that she inherited the job in 2015 when then-Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned in the wake of several controversies. Brown had to face voters in 2016 to fill the remainder of Kitzhaber’s term, but didn’t do as well as a Democrat might be expected to do in a presidential year, taking just over 50 percent of the vote. It seems that a bare majority of voters in 2016 gave her some time to prove herself, but aren’t happy with what they see nearly two years later. Brown can and has been attacked on a host of issues from signing $13 billion in new taxes to ignoring the state’s troubled foster care
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