Document text
State Rep. Wallan on her way back to Salem By Buffy Pollock Updated: Nov 08, 2022 10:29 PM A A State Rep. Kim Wallan, R-Medford Incumbent State Rep. Kim Wallan, R-Medford, boasted a big early lead Tuesday night in her bid for a return to Salem, according to preliminary results reported by county and state elections officials around 8 p.m. Wallan had a nearly 4,000-vote lead with 60% (13,675 votes) to challenger Dan Davis’s 39.8% (9,043 votes) of 22,745 ballots cast. Wallan said she was excited at the prospect of another term and felt confident she would retain her seat. “I feel pretty confident in, and grateful for, the people in Medford sending me back to Salem to represent them. We’re still going to have to wait and see what the numbers look like, as they get more ballots counted,” Wallan said. If she maintains her lead, Wallan said she was set to focus on homelessness, including addressing the ways that Measure 110, a drug decriminalization and addiction treatment initiative passed in 2020, “is contributing to our homeless problem.” Wallan vowed to try to make changes to Measure 110 and to work across party lines to focus on the impacts of homelessness in communities around the state. Additionally, the housing crisis will be an ongoing focus for Wallan. “People act like the housing crisis is some kind of accident — that we’re victims of some random accident — but those are government policies that have created so much of these problems,” she said. “I’d really like to get in and make us less of the problem, because I don’t believe it’s an accident how we got ourselves into some of these situations.” As deputy leader of the Republican caucus in the House, Wallan said, “I have been intimately involved in all the races all over ... so whatever those numbers end up looking like will give us an indication of what we can do to fix some things,” she added. “These last four years, we weren’t able to have much influence. Our hope is that we’re at least in a position to have a little more influence this time around. There are some changes that need to be made.” Wallan’s Democrat challenger, Dan Davis, did not immediately return calls by the Mail Tribune. Davis, a gun-owning veteran, offered some unorthodox ideas for solving some state-level problems during his campaign. Davis, who moved to Medford after losing his Talent home in the Almeda Fire, boasted decades of experience as an engineer in the energy industry. Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.