If you haven’t submitted your ballot yet, here’s my final recap of the Oregon governor’s race from a startup perspective

Much to my chagrin, I’ve been sifting through this governor’s race so you don’t have to. The written plans. The Portland Business Journal sit down. The debate in Eugene. And now the last two. Medford on October 7. And Bend on October 13. Which was billed as the final debate before November 3. And across all of it, nobody asked Governor Tina Kotek or Christine Drazan about QSBS. Or about what a founder actually keeps at exit. The closest anybody came was a question in Bend about a $1,000 jobs credit.

CAVEAT: Same as always. I am not a political correspondent. I’m a guy with a blog and an unhealthy attachment to the Oregon startup community. So please watch these yourself.

I’m embedding both below so you can watch, assess, and decide. Here’s Medford, from the KOBI-TV NBC5 studios with Southern Oregon University. (The debate starts around the 44 minute mark.)

And here’s Bend, from the KTVZ studios.

Medford was the quieter of the two. For me, anyway. No “startup.” No “venture.” No “entrepreneur.” Not once.

But both candidates did point at the same council. Drazan said “the governor’s Prosperity Council has made some recommendations which I look forward to working across the aisle to implement.” And when taxes came up, Kotek said “my Prosperity Council mentioned some things that we need to take up and I have asked legislative leaders to start working on those issues.”

Drazan’s rebuttal opened with “I will lower taxes.” But here’s the thing. That Prosperity Council report is the one that, by my read, includes reconnecting QSBS. So both of them pointed at a council whose report, again by my read, includes our issue.

Neither of them said our issue.

Then came the jobs credit question. The Source asked about the “tax credit of $1,000 per net new job capped at $10,000 per employer for certain industries, including forestry, wood products, manufacturing, and technology.” And whether that’s enough to change business decisions in central and eastern Oregon.

Drazan said “No, I do not believe that that nominal tax credit is going to do anything to move the needle.” Kotek said the credit “is only one piece of the puzzle and it was in a larger tax package that my opponent voted against…”

Neither of them named the bill. But as best I can tell, that larger tax package is SB 1507. The same bill that created the jobs credit. And the same bill that disconnected Oregon from the federal QSBS exclusion. The one Kotek signed in April with a letter promising to “propose legislation for the 2027 session that would address the QSBS exemption issue specifically.”

And Drazan got even closer. She seemed to be talking about the same bill when she called it “a slap in the face what that legislation did to founders in our state.” Founders. Out loud. On a debate stage. Which leaves the questions I’d have loved to hear asked. What does a slap in the face cost a founder at exit? And what does either of them plan to do about it in 2027?

One small fact check, because these numbers get repeated. Drazan said SB 1507 “increased taxes by $330 million.” The Legislative Revenue Office estimate is about $311 million this biennium. And her own caucus’s release said $311 million in the headline.

So that’s the series. The QSBS question never got asked. It got close. Twice. In Bend.

Watch both debates. Go read Kotek’s plan and Drazan’s plan. Election day is November 3.

Please do your own research. Make your own decisions. And then vote.