The 2006 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski ran for a second and final term. He faced several challengers in his primary, whom he dispatched to win his party's nomination a second time, while Republican nominee Ron Saxton, the former chair of the Portland Public Schools Board and a candidate for governor in 2002 emerged from a crowded primary. Kulongoski and Saxton were initially going to be challenged in the general election by State Senator Ben Westlund, but Westlund withdrew his candidacy before the general election. There were multiple independent and third party challengers on the ballot as well. In a hard-fought campaign, Kulongoski won re-election by a surprisingly wide margin. As of 2026, this marks the last occasion in which Columbia, Marion, and Wasco counties have voted Democratic in a gubernatorial election.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Jim Hill, former Oregon State Treasurer, 2002 Democratic candidate for Governor of Oregon
- Ted Kulongoski, incumbent Governor of Oregon
- Peter Sorenson, Lane County Commissioner
Republican primary
Candidates
- Jason Atkinson, Oregon State Senator
- David W. Beem
- W. Ames Curtright
- Bob Leonard Forthan, perennial candidate
- Gordon Leitch
- Kevin Mannix, former Oregon State Representative, 2002 Republican nominee for Governor of Oregon
- Ron Saxton, former chair of the Portland Public Schools Board
- William E. Spidal
General election
Campaign
As the Democratic and Republican primaries intensified, State Senator Ben Westlund, a registered Republican, announced that he would run for governor as an independent. Though Westlund gathered the requisite signatures to be able to run, he eventually dropped out of the race in August, noting, "At the beginning of this campaign, I made a commitment to the people of Oregon, that I was in it to win it, and that I absolutely would not play a spoiler role." Constitution Party nominee Mary Starrett was widely perceived to win votes largely at the expense of Saxton's campaign.
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Clackamas (largest city: Lake Oswego)
- Marion (largest city: Salem)
- Wasco (largest city: The Dalles)
- Washington (largest city: Hillsboro)