U.S. Senate race: Republican, minor party candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Wyden

Four candidates will be on the November ballots that will decide the 2022 race to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate.

The contest pits incumbent Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, against Republican Jo Rae Perkins and candidates from two minor parties: Chris Henry running for the Oregon Progressive Party and Dan Pulju running for the Pacific Green Party.

Below is information about each candidate and the issues they hope will take them to Washington, D.C.

Ron Wyden

Sen. Ron Wyden has represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate since 1996. Between 1981 and 1996, he represented Oregon's 3rd Congressional District, which covers most of Multnomah County, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wyden is the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

By June 30, Wyden had raised more than $12.7 million for his 2022 reelection campaign, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

"I'm getting out and listening. I'm doing my job, and it makes for the best politics," Wyden said.

In seeking reelection this year, Wyden points voters to several recent legislative successes in which he played a part.

Wyden said he's proud of his input in recent legislation around federal investments in clean energy tax credits, prescription drug price reduction measures, tax reform and the manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States.

"We really did 10 years worth of legislating in the last few months," Wyden said

During his time in office, Wyden has written or championed legislation concerning campaign finance reform, expanding access to health care, voting rights and mail-in voting, data privacy, including around abortion, and other issues.

Issues he hopes to tackle in his next term include mental health, housing and natural resources policy. For example, he said he will propose legislation providing "middle income housing tax credits" to help more Americans afford housing and will look for ways to cut administrative costs in housing, such as by encouraging the use of electronic signatures.

"We're running on the areas that we really believe really connect with Oregonians," Wyden said.

Joe Rae Perkins

Jo Rae Perkins, a 66-year-old Albany resident with a finance and real estate background, is running for the U.S. Senate on the Republican Party ticket. She most recently ran for U.S. Senate in 2020, but lost to incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley.

"We're losing our country. We've got people who are not voting according to the oath that they took, according to the Constitution," Perkins said. "We've got to have people in D.C. who are going to vote according to what the Constitution says the role of the government is, not what they want it to be. It is very clear what the Congress can do and can't do."

By June 30, Perkins had raised nearly $38,800, according to FEC data.

Perkins opposes sending money to other counties, such as Ukraine, and thinks the money should be spent on securing the southern border. Perkins said the situation in Ukraine is unclear and Americans aren't getting a "straight answer."

Perkins opposed mask and vaccine mandates through the COVID-19 pandemic, and said she is not vaccinated.

Perkins said federal policy and actions by the Federal Reserve System are responsible for current rates of inflation. She is against raising the debt ceiling and wants to abolish the FED, which she views as an unconstitutional organization.

She said wildfires in Oregon are being exacerbated because of federal control of land, which she says is mismanaged.

She is pro-life, but said wouldn't support a federal abortion ban. She said abortion access should be a state decision.

"I am going to 100% of the time vote according to what the Constitution says the role of the federal government is," Perkins said. "My staff and I will read every single bill before I vote on it, and we are going to scrub that bill to make sure that it is constitutional. If it's not, it's an automatic 'no' vote, and I don't care who sponsored it. Party is irrelevant."

Perkins said there is "clear and convincing data" that casts doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Perkins has been criticized for promoting QAnon conspiracy theories. On Friday she said she supports Americans' right to publish and read anything that is legal, but declined further comment on questions related to QAnon conspiracies.

Perkins said she was outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally, but didn't enter the building.

"Saving our Republic is important to me," Perkins said.

Chris Henry

Chris Henry, a 58-year-old truck driver, is running for the U.S. Senate on the Oregon Progressive Party ticket.

Henry has previously run for state treasurer, governor, state attorney general, state labor commissioner and for the U.S. House of Representatives, but never has been elected to office. It is his first time running for a seat in the U.S. Senate.

"Success is being out there, being a working class voice on the ballot and supporting issues that others don't," Henry said. "I'm a worker, and I'm going to support working people in my campaign. There's not guesswork involved there."

Henry said campaign finance reform is one of his top issues. He wants to undo the effects of the Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission, which allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns.

Henry said he's raised "very little" money for his campaign, an amount at least below the $5,000 federal reporting limit.

Henry supports a single-payer national health care insurance system, such as "Medicare for all." Henry is pro-choice.

He advocates for a livable minimum wage, laws making it easier to join unions and creating a more sustainable economy.

"I'm giving people a working-class person to vote for in the election," Henry said.

Dan Pulju

Dan Pulju, a 51-year-old poll interviewer from Eugene, is running for the U.S. Senate on the Pacific Green Party ticket.

As a minor-party candidate with about $1,000 in total donations to his campaign, Pulju said he doesn't expect to win the race but is hopeful even moderate success will help Oregonians move toward leaving behind the two-party system.

"The win is to get a significant percentage of the vote that gets people actually interested in believing that they can win. There's a psychological problem among American voters where they feel like they have no choice but to vote for one of the two major parties," Pulju said. "I'm trying to get 5% this year. Maybe someone gets 7% or 10% next year."

One of Pulju's main campaign issues is ending "forever wars," a state of geopolitics in the United States and elsewhere that he believes benefits elites at the expense of ordinary people. He said a current-day manifestation of the problem is the conflict in Ukraine and its antecedents, and Pulju said he wants to see the United States end its involvement in it.

"We need to stop involvement in the Ukraine war. It's not going to go the way Washington wants it to go," Pulju said.

Pulju said he supports abortion rights and opposes vaccines mandates. He said social media companies should be held legally liable for what's posted on their services. Pulju believes the War on Drugs was a mistake that should be ended.

Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR.