Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has received $650,000 from labor groups representing carpenters this year. A committee donating those funds recently reported a $10 million cash infusion.
Eli Imadali / OPB
A $10 million bomb appeared on Oregon’s political scene earlier this month. The question for many Oregon politicos this election season is whether it’s about to go off.
The eye-catching sum, the largest single political donation on record in the state, arrived Sept. 16 in the account of Building a Stronger Oregon, a political action committee controlled by carpenter unions.
The money was sent by the labor group that runs the PAC, the North Coast States Carpenters Union.
Based in Oakland, California, the union is supporting Gov. Tina Kotek’s reelection this year. And the cash it’s now flashing could be game-changing in her tight contest with Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan.
But the union says the money, most of it anyway, isn’t earmarked for 2026.
“That is not the plan,” Ron Rowlett, director of government relations and governmental affairs for the carpenters union, told OPB on Wednesday. “The $10 million is to support multiple candidates and multiple measures from today moving forward.”
Rowlett said the donation is part of a reorganization within the union representing carpenters nationwide, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
Until February, unionized Oregon carpenters were part of a broader coalition of chapters from western states. Now they’re under the smaller North Coast States Carpenters Union, which includes union chapters in California, Oregon and Washington.
Not only is the Oregon money not keyed in on any particular race this year, Rowlett said, but it’s not even the only such contribution. The North Coast States Carpenters Union also sent $10 million to its PAC in Washington state on the same day, records show.
“We obviously look to have political power in all the states we run,” Rowlett said. “We support elected officials that support the carpenters union vision. It’s all about jobs, wages and benefits.”
The Oregon Journalism Project first noted the $10 million contribution in Oregon.
So far this year, carpenters have been among Kotek’s most generous supporters. Building a Stronger Oregon, the PAC affiliated with Rowlett’s union, has contributed $500,000. The governor received an additional $150,000 in January from the carpenters’ union before it reorganized, records show.
Among unions, only members of the Service Employees International Union, the state’s largest public-sector labor organization, have given Kotek more. Between two PACs, members of the union have sent her $1.35 million this year.
Rowlett told OPB the carpenters union backs Kotek because of her support for union-backed bills that create new safeguards assuring laborers are paid for their work, and her crackdown on the use of unlicensed laborers.
“We believe she’s trying to bring business to the state of Oregon, and we will continue to support our friends,” Rowlett said.
He did not mention a controversial executive order Kotek issued in 2023 that would have given union laborers a leg up in working on many state-sponsored construction projects. That order was cheered by trades unions at the time, but ultimately ruled illegal.
Kotek’s support from labor has been a boon as she looks to fend off a serious challenge from Drazan this year.
With two weeks to go before ballots are sent to voters, the governor reported having $4.4 million on hand as of Thursday afternoon. Drazan had roughly $1.6 million to spend.
