PORTLAND, Ore. — Democrat Ted Kulongoski held a slim lead over Republican Kevin Mannix with thousands of ballots left to count Wednesday morning in Oregon's tightest race for governor in years.
With about three-quarters of the precincts counted, Kulongoski was ahead by only about 3,000 votes in the contest to succeed Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber, who was prevented by term limits from running again.
"I'm confident we are going to bring this home" on Wednesday morning, Kulongoski, a former state Supreme Court justice, told a cheering group of supporters shortly after midnight.
Mannix told his supporters to prepare for a long vote count. "The fact of the matter is, we may have to wait a day or two to find out where we are," said the lawyer and former state legislator.
Libertarian Tom Cox, who ran on a promise to cut taxes by $1.5 billion and reduce government spending, was getting 5 percent of the vote.
In an August poll Kulongoski had a double-digit lead over Mannix. Mannix pulled closer with an aggressive campaign that faulted the Democrat for endorsing a $313 million income tax increase aimed at averting cuts in schools and other programs.
Kulongoski fought against the tax-and-spend label by pointing out tax increases Mannix had voted for as a legislator. He also railed against the Republican's anti-abortion views.