Lane County commissioner election: Incumbents Trieger, Farr lead

Both incumbents in races for two Lane County commissioner seats were leading their races late Tuesday after the initial rounds of election returns were reported.

In the race for District 3, incumbent Laurie Trieger had a wide lead over challenger Grace Widdicombe, according to an update posted late Tuesday night. In District 4, incumbent Pat Farr was leading in his race against Zach Mulholland.

Farr told the Register-Guard the 16-point difference in his race "demonstrates that I've got pretty broad support in my district," but that he still wants to hear from Mulholland's supporters.

"To me, it was a vote of confidence on my experience and that people trust the job that I've been doing," he said. "My theme of the campaign was talking about people in need we have to serve better. … I would contend that in a nonpartisan race, people who are not serving a party, are going to be doing a better job of serving people."

Mulholland conceded but expressed pride in getting over 40%.

"Of all of the (Eugene area) races against incumbents I did the best by far," he told the Register-Guard. "I am disappointed and feel like there were important issues that I wasn't able to fully get my message out on being outspent that way, but I congratulate Pat on his victory and hope we can make solid progress on homelessness and jobs, affordable housing and clean air and water."

The two seats represent the Eugene area for the county commission and were hotly contested throughout the campaign season.

In District 3, Trieger highlighted projects from her first term that she'll see through if reelected including the Lane County stabilization center, waste processing facility and Measure 110 reform implementation.

Widdicombe highlighted her background as a house flipper, where she said she's seen Lane County be a barrier to housing development which she will improve by reforming Lane County land use.

In District 4, Farr highlighted three terms of experience on the board of commissioners, and local government experience before that, and the knowledge and connections that come with that experience.

Mulholland, a Lane Community College Board member and Beyond Toxics environmentalist, promoted himself as a candidate who will replace Farr's swing vote with one consistently liberal, especially on the environment.

The non-partisan office of Lane County commissioner has a four-year term. The two "Eugene" seats on the board are elected in presidential years while the Springfield and rural seats are elected in mid-term years.

If a very close race causes no candidate to reach 50% +1, they face off again in the general election in November.

As of May 17, Farr's campaign raised $125,982, Trieger's raised $104,668, Mulholland's raised $27,129 and Widdicombe's raised $6,051.

Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on X @alanfryetorres.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Election results: Incumbent Lane County commissioners lead