Nick Kristof, Secretary Of State Make Opposing Arguments In Court

HILLSBORO, OR — It's in the hands of the court now.

Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and columnist Nick Kristof is running for governor and says that he belongs on the ballot. Secretary of Shemia Fagan disagrees. Kristof sued, challenging the ruling. State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum filed papers defending Fagan's ruling.

The arguments are being considered by the Oregon Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis at Kristof's response since every day the ruling is in place, the more damage it does to his campaign.

"In the absence of the Supreme Court's intervention, the election stands to be decided not at the ballot box, but rather by a single government official's confounding decision," Kristof says.

"At stake is nothing less than the right of Oregon voters to freely choose their next governor."

After Kristof filed to run for governor, Fagan ruled that he doesn't qualify for the ballot because he doesn't meet the requirement in the state constitution that candidates be residents of Oregon for at least three years.

While Kristof had a home in New York while he was working for the Times, he was born and raised in Yamhill County. with his wife and family, he lives on the same farm where he grew up.

Kristof's filing argues that "resident" has never been defined by a court in Oregon and Fagan is keeping him off the ballot is "a lone government official applying and untested legal reasoning."

He also argued that the decision was also driven in part by politics.

Kristof — whose court papers refer to him as "the frontrunner" – argues that Fagan is trying to protect allies such as outgoing speaker of the house Tina Kotek and State Treasurer Tobias Reed, who are both running for governor as well.

Rosenblum's response on behalf of Fagan states that Kristof was disqualified because of the rule that says candidates must be residents and that while Kristof had a home in Oregon, a person can only be a resident of one state.

Fagan says that since Kristof voted n New York in 2020, had a driver's license from New York, and paid taxes in New York, that's where he lived through 2020.

The court has not set a timetable for when they will make a decision.