Tony DeBone was first elected to the Deschutes County Board of County Commissioners in 2010. He won again in 2014, and again in 2018 and 2022.
Now, as he seeks a fifth term, he faces an aggressive and well-funded challenge.
Jamie Collins, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and founder of a climate consulting firm, has more than doubled DeBone’s campaign donations, raking in $144,000 as of March 15, according to campaign finance data. He’s riding a message that DeBone and a majority of commissioners have taken a backseat on key issues, including homelessness, water quality, housing and land use.
“My opponent Tony DeBone has failed to plan for these things, he’s failed to lead and he’s failed to take responsibility,” Collins told the Source in an interview.
DeBone says he’s dedicated himself as a commissioner and has helped keep County services running steadily over the last 15 years.
“I am enthusiastic about what I can offer the citizens being a commissioner, four more years,” he told the Source.
A third candidate, Brooke West, joined the race for Position 1 on March 4, a few days before the end of the filing period. West, who runs a construction company, declined an interview when reached by phone March 27.
“I’m running to bring practical, no-nonsense leadership to Deschutes County,” West said on her campaign website.
Though West is far behind in fundraising and campaigning, her filing could disrupt a race that was sailing toward a conclusion at the May 19 primary, when any candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote wins the seat without having to run again in the November general election.
Two others initially filed for Position 1 and withdrew: John Heylin, a former Bend business owner who initiated the 2024 ballot measure to expand the commission from three to five members, and Gary Campbell, a former board member with the Swalley Irrigation District who is now one of six candidates running for Position 3.
The race has seen some of the largest individual donations of any County election this year. Both DeBone and Collins have accepted $20,000 checks: DeBone from cryptocurrency tycoon Patrick Gruhn, who lives on a ranch in La Pine, and Collins from Toby Bayard, an environmentalist appealing a proposed winery near her property north of Bend. DeBone also received $5,000 from the Central Oregon Association of Realtors while Collins took $10,000 from the Western States Carpenters Union.
Backgrounds of public service
Collins has won the endorsement of the Deschutes Democrats and other local officials, and even attracted attention from statewide offices with the endorsement of Secretary of State Tobias Read.
Collins says his long history of public service inspired him to run for Deschutes County Commissioner. He’s spent the last 22 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, the last 17 as a reservist. He and his family moved to Bend in 2018 when he was recruited by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to lead disaster response efforts east of the Cascades.
He highlighted housing, homelessness and what he says are looming crises in insurance and electricity as top priorities.
“I’m a career Coast Guard veteran, climate scientist and national certified disaster response chief, and I’ve looked at these things, problems where it is very easy to kick the can down the road and pass the buck,” Collins said. “I don’t pass the buck. I solve problems.”
Collins is hoping his list of credentials will be enough to defeat DeBone, who has 15 years of experience as commissioner. DeBone, a Republican with a professional background in biotech and aerospace software, moved to La Pine in the early 2000s and got his start as an elected official on the local parks board.
As county commissioner, he’s emphasized economic development, which he says he’ll continue to focus on.
“We always want to make sure the business environment’s good,” he said in an interview. “With my experience, I see that the state legislature and the choice happening in Salem — sometimes aren’t really pro-business, per se. I’m looking forward to helping diversify the economy and find some living wage jobs for people that can create wealth, have savings, health care, the whole big picture.”
He also mentioned energy and electricity as a “limiting factor” to economic development, citing the need to work through land use hurdles for solar projects and development of geothermal energy at the Newberry Volcano.
On homelessness, housing
DeBone has faced criticism — including from Collins — over his apparent reluctance to support homelessness projects, including funding and leases for safe parking programs and the development of a 36-space managed homeless camp in east Redmond. Those projects have moved forward with majority support from the board, but the County is still grappling with homeless camping on government-owned lands near the edge of cities.
The number of people counted as experiencing homelessness in Central Oregon continues to rise each year.
“I think we’re on the downhill side,” DeBone said of the homelessness crisis. “It’s peaked,” he said, while acknowledging there is “a lot of work to do.”
“I think there’s a moment of reality out there that we just haven’t got to,” he said. “The fact that we can’t have these unsanctioned long-term camping, disassembling cars, receiving free services from all the nonprofits and having no responsibility.”
In an interview, Collins called it a “deep moral failing” of DeBone’s leadership that so many people, especially veterans, are homeless. He said the County needs “every possible solution” including more programs and housing paired with services to help people get out of homelessness.
To add more affordable housing, Collins said he wants to broker between cities and the state to set up income and occupational restrictions for housing built on land added through urban growth boundary expansions.
DeBone said he’s worked with cities through urban growth boundary expansion projects and other infrastructure needs.
“When it comes to housing, I’m experienced in that big world, and we’ve been advocating for it,” DeBone said.
Land use debate divides candidates
The current county commission has spurred appeals from land use watchdog groups for allowing rural landowners who say their farm-zoned land is not farmable to redesignate property for low-density housing development. Collins has advocated against the rezoning of rural lands away from cities, arguing it’s not a solution to the housing crisis and puts more homes in the path of wildfire.
In another offensive this month, Collins called out DeBone for inaction on a persistent groundwater nitrate contamination problem in south Deschutes County. DeBone says the County has done plenty of work on the issue, including creating a development fund to help with groundwater treatment and advocating for broader solutions.
This article appears in the Source April 2, 2026.
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Thanks for keeping us apprised of who the current candidates are, their background, goals and commitments. A suggestion that would help me in making a vote for one candidate over another would be adding a link to your article explaining what is the Commissioner’s position responsibilities. For that matter, any elected position, County Clerk, School Board member, etc. Knowing the positions description would be very helpful in matching the candidate’s abilities to that position.
I sent Brooke West an email, concerning why she won’t be interviewed. The domain couldn’t be found. So I would like to know more about why she’s running, how she feels about certain issues. I would like to know more than her campaign site puts forward, it’s very basic.
Time for DeBone to be sent on down DeRoad or put out to DePasture.
I heard Brooke West is directly connected to Dibone. Her mom is Tana West, the person who is running for our assessor. Tana is buddies with Tony and Bill Kuhn