A lawsuit filed last week alleges that legislator Christine Goodwin, a Douglas County Republican, should be ejected from her seat in Oregon’s House of Representatives and disqualified from seeking the nomination for Senate District 2 because she doesn’t actually live in either district.
If the lawsuit were to succeed, that would leave only one Republican candidate on the ballot for an open Senate seat, clearing the way for the departing incumbent’s son to snag the spot.
Goodwin has served in the House since August 2021, when she was appointed by county commissioners to replace Rep. Gary Leif of Roseburg, who died in office. Goodwin won election to House District 4 in 2022, then announced last year that she would run for the seat in Senate District 2 held by Republican Art Robinson, who is barred from running again. Robinson was among the Republican senators blocked from reelection after they boycotted work in 2023.
But the lawsuit alleges that Goodwin doesn’t actually live in House District 4 or Senate District 2.
Goodwin is registered to vote at a Canyonville property that lies inside those districts. But the lawsuit brought by several Grants Pass officials and voters alleges that Goodwin lives at an address in Myrtle Creek, which lies just outside the districts’ boundary.
Goodwin did not return calls seeking comment on Monday but said in a text that the lawsuit was a “baseless attack” by supporters of Noah Robinson, Art Robinson’s son and her opponent in this spring’s primary race for Senate District 2.
“I trust the voters of Southern Oregon to elect me to the Senate like they have to the House – with overwhelming support,” Goodwin’s text said.
The Douglas County Clerk’s Office verified Monday that Goodwin is registered at the Canyonville address and has been since Dec. 27, 2021. Travel Oregon lists the address as the site of a tasting room for Falk Estate Vineyards, and the lawsuit also asserts that is its use. Business owners did not respond to messages seeking comment.
But the Douglas County Assessor’s office lists it as a residential property with several bedrooms, and Goodwin said by text that the tasting room is no longer in existence and that she lives in a house on the property.
For decades before her registration at the Canyonville property, Goodwin was registered to vote at a home in Myrtle Creek, the clerk’s office said. The Douglas County Assessor’s office website says that Myrtle Creek property is still owned by Lynn and Christine Goodwin.
Josephine County Commission Chair John West, Winnie and Edgar Pelfrey, Victoria Marshall and Cathy Millard, filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and argue that she should not place Goodwin’s name on the ballot as a candidate in the race for Senate District 2. They have asked a judge for a temporary restraining order, which they say must be issued by Thursday, and an injunction to keep Goodwin off the ballot and to remove her as representative for House District 4.
The dispute over where an Oregon candidate genuinely resides is not the first of its kind. In 2022, a Republican political operative complained that Democratic candidate for the state House Hai Pham of Hillsboro did not live in his parent’s house, as listed on his filing paperwork, but instead in the home he and his wife owned in a neighboring district. The Secretary of State’s Office didn’t investigate that residency complaint because the timing was too close to the November election, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported.
In a higher-profile case that year, the state Supreme Court ruled that gubernatorial candidate Nick Kristof, a New York Times columnist, couldn’t run for governor in Oregon because he did not meet the state’s three-year residency requirement.
The case is scheduled to have a first hearing in Josephine County Circuit Court on April 1.
Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. You can reach her at sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430.