Meet the Candidates: State Senate Race | The Source Weekly

DDemocrat Anthony Broadman and Republican Michael Summers will face off in the race for the 27th District Senate seat, which represents Bend, Sisters, Tumalo and part of Redmond. Tim Knopp, the current senator, is ineligible for reelection because of excessive absences during the last legislative session, when Oregon Senate Republicans staged a record walkout.

Broadman lives in Bend and has served on the Bend City Council since 2020. He served as mayor pro tempore in 2022 and is an attorney for tribal governments and small businesses. Summers, a Redmond native, currently serves as president of the Redmond School Board, runs a family business and is a drummer for the local cover band, Precious Byrd.

Last week, The Source Weekly interviewed both candidates to get their views on issues that matter to Central Oregonians. Here are some of their thoughts.

When asked why he was running, Summers spoke out and presented himself as a “bridge builder” who could work with both sides of the political spectrum.

“I took over and I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done. I have a politically diverse school board that I respect and love very much, and I feel like we’ve been able to balance ourselves out,” Summers said of his tenure as board chair.

Broadman described himself as a practical and pragmatic policymaker, citing child care, health care and bipartisan cooperation as important issues in the region.

“The decisions we make in public service are serious and have real consequences, and they are too important to distract ourselves with culture wars and bias,” Broadman said.

Both candidates agreed that housing and affordable housing remain the biggest issues facing Oregonians. “We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m really proud of the progress this community has made,” Broadman said, noting Bend’s success in building more housing for working families than any other city in the state, per capita.

“We will need these types of creative initiatives in the Legislature to address our housing and homelessness challenges,” he said.

Summers said housing is the root cause of many of the problems in Central Oregon, including inflationary pressures on all sectors. Growth, which he has seen throughout his life, has been very rapid, he said, and infrastructure needs to catch up. He added that regulations that are slowing our housing production need to be addressed.
“We absolutely need to have housing codes, but at a time when housing is in a state of emergency, we need to deregulate the things that can be deregulated, review them and say what works and what doesn’t,” Summers said.

Both candidates agree that homelessness is a housing problem and that more affordable housing options are needed to find solutions.

On the topic of bipartisanship, Summers spoke of the need for cooperation and stressed that he is always open to new and diverse perspectives that can help him see things from a different perspective.

“The only reason I’m running for this position right now is because I thought, ‘If I can do it on a school board that’s as diverse as ours, and still have joy, peace and something that brings a sense of unity to the community, I’m in,’” Summers said.

Broadman acknowledged the importance of working together and spoke about the walkouts that took place last year. “I’m tired of seeing all the great work that we do in this community, on housing, on homelessness, on education, on wildfire resilience, being thwarted by these extremist walkouts. And for the record, I’m taking action now. I’m never going to walk out,” he said.

Asked if he could see himself participating in a walkout, Summers said he would not walkout over political issues, but said a walkout would not happen if he were elected, citing his ability to work with both parties.

“I never back down on policy issues like that,” Summers said in our interview. “I’m committed to engaging and really making sure that we’re actually at the table, to balance some of these policies. And I think it was kind of a desperation because of the supermajority. That was the only lever they had to pull. I’m not in that position, and I won’t be, because I’ll be there, so I can balance that and make sure that we have voices at the table.”

Concluding the interview, Broadman spoke about his accomplishments and what he hopes to see happen in the future. “I’ve been a no-nonsense city councilor, someone who’s worked with people across the political spectrum to get things done. I think our community is really tired of the culture wars and I think they’re ready to move past them,” Broadman said.

Summers has always been committed to working with both parties and continuing to put people before politics. “As someone who really wants to build bridges and continue relationships outside of politics, politics is not the end of a community,” Summers said.