Christine Drazan (left) and Gov. Tina Kotek are locked in a close race. (Will Yurman/Lookout Eugene-Springfield)
In Apparent Conflict With Its Mission and History, ACLU Takes Sides in Oregon Governor’s Race
The civil rights group says it is nonpartisan and doesn’t get involved in candidate races but is spending heavily to support Kotek.
By Nigel Jaquiss
October 26, 2026
You can tell the governor’s race is close when supporters of Gov. Tina Kotek take unusual measures to maintain Democrats’ nearly 40-year monopoly on the statewide office.
First, the carpenters union in September dumped an unprecedented (for Oregon) $10 million into a PAC and have so far given $750,000 of it to Kotek.
Then, on Oct. 15, the ACLU of Oregon announced it had formed a political action committee—something the organization confirmed it had never done before.
“ACLU of Oregon Democracy PAC will educate Oregon voters on candidates’ positions,” the group said in a statement.
The ACLU of Oregon operates two nonprofit entities: a 501(c)(3) non-profit that focuses on litigation and public education on civil rights issues, and a more political 501(c)(4) that lobbies the Legislature and works on issues such as the Equal Rights for All ballot measure that died earlier this year.
(A key difference between the two ACLU nonprofits: Contributions to the 501(c)(3) are tax deductible, while those to the 501(c)(4)—a so-called dark money group because donations are unlimited and typically undisclosed—are not.)
The Oregon ACLU has pledged to inject a lot of money into the PAC—$925,000, or nearly a third of the 501(c)(4)’s 2025 revenue.
On Oct. 21, the PAC reported an expenditure of $574,000: half as “independent expenditure in support [of] Tina Kotek” and half as “independent expenditure in opposition [to] Christine Drazan.”
On the surface, it might not seem surprising that a left-leaning organization such as the ACLU would support Kotek and oppose Drazan—except that the ACLU’s mission statement and tax filings explicitly say it doesn’t engage in such tactics.
“We are not a partisan political organization,” the ACLU of Oregon’s mission statement says. “ACLU does not support or oppose candidates for elective office.”
The ACLU’s 501(c)(4) organization’s 2025 federal tax return states: “The Oregon Affiliate of the ACLU is a nonpartisan organization.”
Even so, the ACLU PAC spent $574,000 to produce two mailers that contrast the positions of Kotek and Drazan—who polls show are in a dead heat—on voting rights, immigration and abortion with the tagline “the election for Governor will decide the future of Oregon on these important issues and more.”
(A spokesman for Kotek’s campaign, Feddy Araujo, said the campaign knew nothing of the mailers. “It’s an independent expenditure,” Araujo said. “It’s the first we’ve heard of it.”)
The ACLU of Oregon Democracy PAC sent voters mailers supporting Kotek and opposing Drazan.
Christina Nguyen, an ACLU of Oregon spokeswoman, said the disclosures regarding support of Kotek and opposition to Drazan were made out of an “abundance of caution” and that the organization’s activities are not endorsements of a particular candidate but rather voter education. Nguyen added that the mailers are consistent with the stated mission and principles of the national American Civil Liberties Union.
“As a nonpartisan organization, we do not endorse candidates, and our voter education is done independently from candidates and parties, which means that we conduct our voter education based on the constitutional and policy positions and records of candidates rather than on partisan alignment,” Nguyen said.
Dan Meek, a public interest lawyer and elections expert found that argument unpersuasive. He reviewed the ACLU of Oregon’s mission statement, recent tax return, and its mailers at OJP’s request.
“Spending money to support a candidate constitutes direct political campaign activity on behalf of a candidate,” Meek said in an email. “Its mission statement includes the words ‘We are NOT…a partisan political organization. ACLU does not support or oppose candidates for elective office.’ That is now not true.”
Although the ACLU claims it simply wants to educate voters with its mailers, it also has a financial partner in the ACLU of Oregon Democracy PAC: Service Employees International Union Local 503, the state’s largest public employee union. On Oct. 21, the ACLU PAC disclosed a $182,000 contribution from the labor group.
Unlike the ACLU, SEIU is an explicitly partisan organization and a large supporter of Kotek and other Democratic candidates for many years. Through its various PACs, SEIU has so far given Kotek more than $1.6 million for the November election. That total does not include the funds it gave the ACLU PAC.
For decades, the ACLU nationally built a reputation for its unflinching commitment to free speech regardless of what form it took. Perhaps most famously, in 1977, the organization represented Nazis who wanted to march in Skokie, Ill., a heavily Jewish suburb of Chicago.
In Oregon, from its founding in 1955, the ACLU’s work on behalf of civil rights and personal freedom often found support from some conservative lawmakers and Libertarians. Richard Burke, a former candidate for governor and leader of the Libertarian Party of Oregon, said he frequently agreed with the ACLU of Oregon. Burke said he’s surprised to see it engaged in the governor’s race.
“As I understand the mission of the ACLU, they are betraying that mission,” Burke said. “They work on preserving and expanding civil liberties. Getting involved in partisan races represents a shift.”
The ACLU’s Nguyen insists that is not the case.
“To further its mission, the ACLU of Oregon Democracy PAC is informing voters on the drastic differences in how Kotek and Drazan stand on critical civil liberties and civil rights issues, including voting, abortion and reproductive health care, and immigrant rights,” she said.
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