On Friday, Amanda La Bell launched a campaign to represent District 54 of Oregon’s state House of Representatives. She’ll run on the Working Families Party ballot line, against a Democratic candidate, but she already has the support of the state’s Democratic governor, Kate Brown, and Senator Jeff Merkley. As The Willamette Week reported on Tuesday, La Bell’s Democratic opponent, Dr. Nathan Boddie, faces allegations of sexual harassment, groping, and homophobia, but he refuses to drop out of the race.
“I only just learned of these outrageous accusations,” he told the Week back in June. “It’s unfortunate that political discourse in Oregon has degraded to this level. I have spent my medical and political career helping increase access to care for women and LGBTQ patients and anyone who needs medical treatment.” FuturePAC, the campaign committee for Oregon House Democrats, withdrew its support for him, announcing in a statement that they found the allegations credible.
Before the scandal, Boddie stood a good chance of replacing the district’s Republican representative, who is now running for governor. But the state party is clearly wary of playing host to their own Al Franken scandal, which gives La Bell an opening.