Sean VanGordon leads Springfield race in Lane County Elections returns
Early lane county elections returns on May 19 showed Sean VanGordon leading incumbent David Loveall in the Springfield commissioner race, while Katina Saint Marie was ahead of Amit Kapoor in the Lane County Circuit Court judge contest. VanGordon told supporters he was grateful as the first counts came in, but the Springfield race was not finished when those returns were reported.
At 8:20 p.m., Saint Marie led Kapoor 51.2% to 48.2% in the judge race. VanGordon’s lead came later in the evening, and he said, “I’m just grateful” at his campaign watch party.
Springfield commissioner race
VanGordon, the Springfield mayor, told supporters, “I’m grateful to the voters who put their trust in me and continue to support me, and I’m grateful for all the volunteers that came out and helped me and the campaign staff that worked so hard.” Loveall answered with a message focused on voting itself, saying, “Here’s the good thing: we live in America,” and “I spent six years of my life defending the freedom to vote in the U.S. military.”
He added, “The people’s voice is the voice that we want to prevail,” and “We want everyone’s voice to be heard.” The race remained open when those comments were made, and the early count had not settled whether the lead would hold.
Lane County contests
The Springfield race was one of several contests under review across Lane County, where voters were deciding four seats on the Eugene City Council, three county commissioner seats, and primaries for Oregon House and Senate on May 19. At 8:20 p.m., Jake Pelroy led Heather Buch 49.9% to 47% in the East Lane seat on the Board of Lane County Commissioners, while Bob Zybach held 4.9%.
If neither Pelroy nor Buch clears 50%, they will advance to a runoff election in November. In Eugene City Council Ward 3, Jennifer Smith led John Barofsky 52.5% to 47%, and incumbent Mike Clark had 43% in Ward 5.
Measure 20-381
Ballot Measure 20-381 was leading 62.1% to 37.9% at 8:35 p.m. The measure would raise an estimated $4.3 million per year for the Eugene Public Library for the next five years, giving library funding a separate test on the same night as the local races.
Those returns left Springfield, the East Lane commissioner seat, and the judge race as the clearest contests to watch as the count continued, with one race already close enough to point toward a November runoff and another still separated by just a few percentage points.
