Oregon Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Tina Kotek (Democrat), Christine Drazan (Republican) and Brett Smith (Green) are the candidates for governor of Oregon in the November 3, 2026 general election. Tina Kotek is the incumbent. Semblen has analyzed 52 ads in this race; 29 used at least one manipulation technique, most often loaded language and appeal to prejudice.
Tina Kotek (DEM, incumbent), Christine Drazan (REP), Brett Smith (GRE).
On the ballot as listed by Ballotpedia. 52 ads analyzed, 29 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08. 1 ad from other advertisers shown separately below.
29 of 51 (57%) flagged · Loaded Language (18), Appeal to Prejudice (16), Glittering Generalities (12)
YouTube
0 of 1 flagged
Reported Meta spend
$421,600–529,396 on all ads, $238,400–295,049 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“mobilized troops against our community” — Loaded Language, paid for by FRIENDS OF TINA KOTEK, PAC ID 4792
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 50% of ads.
The words doing the work
The words that show up most in phrases our model flagged as loaded language or name calling in this race's ads, by number of ads.
abortionin 3 ads· e.g. “celebrate abortion by establishing Abortion Providers Appreciation Day”, “celebrate abortion”
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Oregon's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
52 ads, newest first. Video transcripts are shown as the model read them, without caption cues like [music].
Showing the 1 ad paid for by Courtney Bangs PAC. Show all 52 ads
Paid for by Courtney Bangs PACfrom 2026-09-07 to 2026-09-30spend $1,000–1,499350,000–399,999 impressions
🚨Our new TV ad is live!🚨
Our rural Northwest Oregon way of life is worth protecting.
But Portland politicians always find another way to threaten our values. They neglect our schools, close our mills, and come after our wallets.
Standing up to politicians like Tina Kotek is not new to me. I will never stop protecting what matters.
Will you join me in making a donation today to help us get the message out?
👉 https://secure.anedot.com/courtney-bangs-pac/donate
Appeal to Prejudice: The phrase invokes an in-group identity ('our rural Northwest Oregon way of life') to create a sense of shared identity that implicitly positions an outside threat to that identity — for example: 'our rural Northwest Oregon way of life'
Loaded Language: The phrase 'threaten our values' uses emotionally charged language to provoke a reaction against Portland politicians — for example: threaten our values and come after our wallets.
Name Calling: Labeling politicians as 'Portland politicians' functions as a derogatory geographic label used to discredit them rather than address their policies — for example: Portland politicians
Scapegoating: Complex economic and social problems such as school quality, mill closures, and taxation are blamed entirely on Portland politicians — for example: They neglect our schools, close our mills, and come after our wallets
Appeal to Prejudice
Loaded Language
Name Calling
Scapegoating
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
Paid posts that ran in OR and name a candidate, from advertisers that aren't part of this race: news-style pages, campaigns for other offices, and others. They're shown here for completeness and not counted with the ads above. We show the same technique analysis; their claims are not checked.
Yunker For State Rep: campaign for another office
Paid for by Yunker For State Repfrom 2026-09-23 to 2026-09-25spend $0–991,000–1,999 impressions
Who is Susan Fischer-Maki?
Susan Fischer-Maki has spent decades advancing progressive causes in Oregon politics.
She has aligned herself with groups that have a seat at the table with Governor Tina Kotek.
She supports the state’s decision to allow biological males to compete in girls’ sports.
See below where she stands on other progressive issues affecting Oregonians, along with Democrats’ record on so many issues that are holding Oregon back.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that most of her life hasn’t been political.
Josephine County voters deserve to know the truth about where she stands on the issues.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in OR and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names OR's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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