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State Rep. Pam Marsh eager to ‘get back to Salem’ after win By Buffy Pollock Updated: Nov 08, 2022 09:59 PM A A Though Medford Republican Sandra Abercrombie has faced off against State Rep. Pam Marsh for three consecutive elections — 2018 and 2020 prior to Tuesday night, initial election results didn’t prove the “third time’s a charm” theory. According to early election numbers released by county elections officials, State Rep. Pam Marsh, an Ashland Democrat, has maintained the loyalty of her District 5 constituents. With 30,602 ballots counted as of 8 p.m., just over 64% (19,690 votes) went to Marsh with 35.5% (10,882 votes) favoring Abercrombie. Marsh said she was humbled by continued voter support and eager to “get back to Salem” to continue working on important issues including housing, homelessness and ongoing wildfire recovery. “It’s wonderful news so far. Assuming it holds, I would be very, very honored,” Marsh said. “I take this job really seriously and to have people support me and appreciate the work I’m doing is extremely gratifying.” Marsh’s top priorities include addressing housing issues, which she said existed before recent wildfires made the problem even worse, as well as finding ways to deal with the ongoing homeless crisis. She’s also focused on ongoing wildfire recovery efforts with so many fire victims still facing a great deal of uncertainty. “I would be extremely grateful for the chance to keep the focus on those important issues as well as, of course, climate and climate adaptation and climate mitigation. We’re seeing very real impacts of climate change on the ground in the form of heat and smoke and wildfire. I want to work to make sure that, as conditions on the ground continue to change, that people have good environments to live and work in.” A notable difference between the two candidates, Marsh’s opponent has deemed climate change “fake.” Abercrombie acknowledged the odds were stacked against her, a Republican from Medford against an Ashland-based Democrat. House District 5 covers Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, the southwest corner of Medford, Jacksonville, Ruch and areas of Applegate and Greensprings. Abercrombie, who is nearing 80 but said she was ready to go to Salem if elected, has appeared on a number of ballots in recent years and felt strongly about voters “having more than one candidate to pick from.” “What do I need? Just about 10,000 more?” quipped Abercrombie after hearing initial results Tuesday. “I think I did a little better than last time. That’s something.” Abercrombie said she had hoped a close race between Medford Mayor Randy Sparacino and Sen. Jeff Golden, for Senate District 3, would have helped “get out the vote,” yielding more ballots cast for other races. “I don’t have the money to put into it, so I made a lot of phone calls and talked to a lot of people. I checked the little box that said I won’t accept or spend money on the race,” she said. “You have to get a treasurer and all that. We did lots of calling and lots of work. If the votes don’t come in, overall, you don’t win. I’ll keep my site up and educate people on how to vote and what I’m about.” Abercrombie was unsure about a fourth attempt at government service. “I’ll have just turned 80 when we do the presidential one,” she said. “I’ve run because I just feel like, when you’re the only one that files in the primary, that’s an indication nobody is interested and maybe they’re not paying attention. I just wanted there to be more than one name.” She added, “It’s our civic duty to do this, no matter how it comes out. I wasn’t going to let it go blank.” Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 541-776-8784 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.