Oregon Native Danny Jaffer has accomplished a rare feat for a candidate. Not only has he garnered the nominations of five recognized political parties, he was given the surprise endorsement of the Republican who ran in the primary against Danny’s general election opponent—incumbent Representative Mike Nearman.
How has this occurred that five different parties—all of which hold cherished and quite diverse precepts apart from one another—nonetheless have settled on this one Democrat to represent them? There were a set of circumstances that dovetailed to produce this unusual outcome; however, the caliber of Danny Jaffer as a candidate who is willing to work across all artificial divides is the ultimate reason.
Danny Jaffer is an extraordinary candidate for this large rural district which skirts sizable municipalities to take in farmland and small cities including Dallas, Jefferson, and Dayton in four different counties: Benton, Polk, Yamhill, and Marion.
Growing up and schooled in the heart of House District 23, Danny Jaffer is a twenty-year Naval Aviator who returned to build his family home in Polk County on land his family held for nearly half a century. Danny put down deep roots in the Willamette Valley and walks the talk in service to his community.
Danny was drafted as a candidate in the most grassroots way imaginable. Voters in that district who
were dissatisfied with their lack of representation came to a Benton County Democrats party meeting looking for remedy. As Chair, I put them in touch with a few well-placed persons in other counties and invited Representative Dan Rayfield to come talk to them which he did for almost an hour, cautioning them not to get their hopes up because the district was reliably red. This did not dissuade them!
These voters did their own search and discovered Danny Jaffer in Polk County, recently retired and happily remodeling a home. He’d run for office in Polk County twice before, so he thought long and hard over not just the election process but the huge time and effort that a commitment as an Oregon citizen legislator entailed. These voters courted him over the summer with promises of enthusiastic support. At Danny’s initial get-to-know-you meeting in Monroe (pop. 671), 30 people showed up! When Danny committed to campaign to serve, he gave himself wholeheartedly and so did his volunteers who have hand-written, addressed, and stamped 16,000 postcards. District newspapers have also taken notice.
The Yamhill News Register endorsed Danny while noting the incumbent’s “exceptionally weak record of engagement with constituents” as well as Representative Nearman’s negative voting record except for those few things he personally supports—“gun rights, tax limitations, abortion restrictions, traditional marriage and border security”.
But this year, you don’t need to vote against Nearman. You have the luxury of voting for a personable, moderate and thoughtful alternative in Danny Jaffer, one of the best candidates the Democrats have fielded around the state.
In addition, Representative Nearman was recently outed as the Vice President of Oregonians For Immigration Reform (OFIR) which is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. Originally revealed by a local alternative weekly, the story was picked up by ThinkProgress.com:
An Oregon-based alt-weekly has exposed that state Rep. Mike Nearman (R) is the vice president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform — an SPLC-designated anti-immigrant hate group with ties to a prominent white-nationalist eugenics advocate.
Danny Jaffer is a breath of fresh air because he seeks and finds agreement during these turbulent times which is perhaps the rarest and most needed quality of all. In his own words, he sums up his view of Oregon Forward:
I know that I have friends who differ in their views of how to achieve our goal in what we think Oregon should be. To you I offer this: Wherever you are from, I believe that we all stand together with a commitment to quality in education, equality in the workplace, and fairness in taxation. We can work shoulder to shoulder from there. I ask that you count on me as the standard bearer of your ideals. I know that is a tall request. It is a matter of trust. But, regardless of which side of the aisle you may normally stand on, know that my door will be open, and I will hear your concerns, and, just as importantly (or perhaps even more so), your good ideas. With that as a starting point we can work together, to meet our challenges, uphold our values and provide for our priorities, and be the best of who we are.
That is the Oregon way! That is Oregon Forward!
Running in the wide open spaces of rural Oregon your campaign signs often spend long lonely nights by the side of the road, sometimes falling victim to paint-can wielding kids. When you have one large sign defaced, you cope. Danny chalks it up to “kids”. However, when you have two large signs defaced, it can put a serious dent in your sign budget. During this month of October, Danny has an offer of $5,000 in matching funds for all donations which he is close to securing with his grassroots supporters. If you could send a few dollars his way, it would go a long way towards informing the voters of House District 23 that they have a great choice for representation in Danny Jaffer.