Early election results show promising leads for two candidates backed by the local Democrat party in Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners races Tuesday evening. If the leads hold, it will mean sending four new Democrats to the board in 2027, completing a sweep and massive shift in the political leaning of Deschutes County’s governing body.
Deschutes County voters also shot down proposal to split the County into geographic districts for future elections — in what opponents said was a rebuke of an attempt by sitting Republican commissioners to maintain conservative control of the board.
After an initial round of ballots were counted after 8 pm Tuesday, regional Red Cross director Morgan Schmidt led Bend business owner Rob Imhoff by about 12,000 votes, gaining 58% of the vote to Imhoff’s 42% thus far. Meanwhile, civics educator Amy Sabbadini took a 4,500-vote lead over Marine Corps veteran and public defense nonprofit administrator Lauren Connally, with the race split 53% to 47%.
A Deschutes Democrats election night party in Bend erupted in cheers repeatedly as national pundits called races for Democrats in Congress and early results showed leads in local races.
“It feels incredible,” Schmidt told the Source after initial results came in. “I’m so grateful to the people of Deschutes County for showing up, and showing that they want to see leadership that cares, that leads with strength and kindness, and is ready to get to work.”
Schimdt is on course to win after narrowly losing a 2022 campaign for Deschutes County Commissioner to Patti Adair. Position 5, which Schmidt is on course to win, is one of the two new seats created by a 2024 ballot measure expanding the size of the Deschutes County Commission from three to five members starting next year. Schmidt and Imhoff’s race was long and high-spending, with Imhoff placing attack ads on billboards in recent months.
Imhoff didn’t immediately concede the race Tuesday night, but said initial results were disappointing and the gap would be difficult to overcome.
“If Morgan wins, I wish her luck,” he told the Source in a phone call from his own election event. “I don’t have any ill feelings towards here. We disagree on how to get solutions, but I’m not angry or bitter.”
Sabbadini’s supporters congratulated her on a victory shortly after results were released Tuesday evening, but she told the Source in an interview she still hadn’t had a chance to see the numbers.
“The room seems to be enthused,” she said.
Voter turnout stood at about 49% after initial results were released Tuesday. Deschutes County turnout in midterm elections like 2026 is usually above 70%, which means tens of thousands of ballots were still likely to be counted Tuesday night.
“Every vote matters,” Sabbadini added. “I will wait for the race to be called.”
Connally said she expected the race the be close and was waiting for ballots to be counted.
“We’re really close for that many votes still to be counted,” Connally told the Source in a phone call Tuesday night. “Our race is the one, it’s kind of hard to tell. We’re just kind of watching.”
If the results hold, every member on the new five-member Deschutes County Commission in 2027 will have been elected with the backing of the Deschutes Democrats. County commission seats are technically nonpartisan, but local parties still endorse and support candidates.
Democrats won two county commission seats in a May primary, securing a majority on the board for the first time in decades.
Tuesday was another big win for Democrats not only because their candidates led, but because about 62% of voters rejected a proposed ballot measure to create district maps, by a nearly 20,000-vote margin. Democrats led the campaign against the map, saying the board’s current conservative majority drew district lines unfairly.
“I think there are a lot of people interested in districts,” Deschutes County Commissioner Phil Chang told the Source Tuesday night. “But there are a lot of people who said, ‘this is not the right way to do it.’ This process was flawed, they used the wrong data and they produced a rigged map that was clearly built to provide disproportionate partisan advantage. The people of Deschutes County saw through that.”
Chang, the lone Democrat on the current board who is often outvoted, said Tuesday’s election result “positions the County to play a very new role for our community” when it comes to issues like wildfire, land use and water conservation.
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