Another liberal is out to prove the rules don’t apply to him. Nicholas Kristof, a former high-profile columnist for The New York Times, announced in October that he was a Democratic candidate for governor … of Oregon.
On Thursday, Oregon state officials torpedoed his bid. They determined that Kristof did not qualify for office because he did meet a requirement, spelled out in the state Constitution, that candidates be residents of the state for at least three years.
“The rules are the rules and they apply equally to all candidates for office in Oregon. I stand by the determination of the experts in the Oregon Elections Division that Mr. Kristof does not currently meet the Constitutional requirements to run or serve as Oregon governor,” Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, said, according to Newsmax.
“It wasn’t a close call,” she added.
Kristof countered that by noting that in 1971, when he was 12, his family moved to Yamhill, Oregon, which he has considered his home ever since, Newsmax reported. He even has purchased additional property nearby, and wants his ashes spread on the grounds when he dies. He also claimed that he has paid taxes in Oregon.
The problem, though, is that Kristof, who had been with the Times since 1984 until he resigned last year, voted in New York in 2020.
And that was just one piece of evidence.
According to CBS News, Fagan, the secretary of state, said elections officials “found multiple records of Kristof’s tax payments, residency and voting records in New York from the past 20 years.”
Fagan also noted that Oregon’s mail-in voting laws make it “extraordinarily easy” for out-of-state voters to receive and submit ballots – meaning Kristof could have voted as an Oregonian, had he chosen to do so.
“The strong evidence, taken together, shows until late 2020 or late 2021, Mr. Kristof considered himself a resident of New York,” she added.
Newsmax also noted that Fagan maintained a New York state driver’s license and raising his children in New York undermined Kristof’s claim of being an Oregon resident.
It “just doesn’t pass the smell test,” she said.
“While I have no doubt that Mr. Kristof’s sentiments and feelings towards Oregon are genuine and sincere, they are simply dwarfed by the mountains of objective evidence.”
Kristof, however, is out to prove that the rules don’t apply, and that judges should not believe the “mountains” of evidence against his political career.
He announced he would appeal the state’s decision.
“Because I’ve always known Oregon to be my home, the law says that I am qualified to run for governor,” he said.
He further claimed that Oregon’s “political establishment” was out to protect itself from his candidacy, by using a “political decision and not one based on the law” to upend him.
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