Former state Rep. Tracy Cramer, a Republican who served one term in the Oregon House, announced Monday she is running for the state Senate in 2026.
Cramer is seeking the Senate District 11 seat, which includes Keizer, Woodburn, and parts of northeast Salem. The seat is currently held by Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, who is barred from seeking re-election under a voter-approved constitutional amendment that blocks lawmakers with 10 or more unexcused absences from serving a subsequent term. The disqualifications followed a six-week walkout in 2023 over Democratic bills on abortion, transgender health care, and guns.
The open seat makes the district one of the state’s most competitive. Voter registration data shows the largest group of voters, 44%, are non-affiliated, while 27% are registered Democrats and 22% are Republicans.
Cramer, a lifelong resident of Gervais, served in the Oregon House from 2023 to 2025. Before her election, she worked as a dental assistant and co-owns a small business with her husband. She won her House seat in 2022 but lost a close re-election race in November 2024 to Democrat Lesly Muñoz by 161 votes.
Her policy priorities, based on her legislative record and past campaign platforms, include increasing public safety, supporting school choice, and lowering the cost of living for families. During her term, she sponsored legislation to repeal Measure 110, which decriminalized small amounts of hard drugs, and opposed the state’s decision to suspend high school graduation standards.
Cramer’s campaign launch included an endorsement from Thatcher. “From when I first met her, I have never doubted Tracy’s unwavering commitment to her constituents and core principles while still finding ways to work effectively with colleagues across the aisle,” Thatcher said. “Her deep roots in our community, combined with her legislative experience and dedication to public service, make her uniquely qualified to be our next State Senator. I’m proud to endorse Tracy and will do everything I can to help her win this seat.”
At her announcement, Cramer declared: “Working families in Marion County need bold and proven leadership to effectively tackle the challenges they face … Senate District 11 deserves a champion for these issues. I’m ready to stand up to the partisanship and special interests to make real progress. Enough with the broken promises. Oregon can’t afford anything less.”
Her campaign messaging also emphasized economic hardship for working families. “A full quarter of our families rely on government assistance to put food on the table and far more than average can’t afford medical insurance,” she said. “Yet Portland politicians drive through my district every day only to pass more taxes on the very people who live and work here: from farmworkers to small shop owners, service workers to public employees. The worst deception of the Portland-owned Democrats running this state is that they need more money from the families working hard to make ends meet in order to solve the problems they have spent decades creating. I’m tired of it, and I know that the voters are tired of it.”
As of her announcement, no other candidates have officially declared for the Senate District 11 race. In July, Cramer amended her state campaign finance committee to the “Tracy Cramer PAC” for a State Senator run. The committee reported just over $1,000 in funds, though Cramer previously raised more than $1.1 million for her 2024 House campaign.
The 2024 House race that Cramer lost was one of the most expensive in the state and drew heavily organized opposition from Democratic-aligned groups. After the loss, her campaign retained legal counsel and questioned the election’s integrity, citing state issues with mistakenly registering noncitizens to vote.
The first day for candidates to file for the 2026 primary is Sept. 11, 2025. The filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates is March 10, 2026. The primary election is scheduled for May 19, 2026, and the general election will be held on Nov. 3, 2026.