A lawsuit filed last week alleges that legislator Christine Goodwin, a Douglas County Republican, should be ejected from her seat in Oregon's House of Representatives and disqualified from seeking the nomination for Senate District 2 because she doesn't actually live in either district.
The Oregonian reports that if the lawsuit were to succeed, that would leave only one Republican candidate on the ballot for an open Senate seat, clearing the way for the departing incumbent's son to snag the spot.
Goodwin has served in the House since August 2021, when she was appointed by county commissioners to replace Representative Gary Leif of Roseburg, who died in office. Goodwin won election to House District 4 in 2022, then announced last year that she would run for the seat in Senate District 2 held by Republican Art Robinson, who is barred from running again. Robinson was among the Republican senators blocked from reelection after they boycotted work in 2023.
But the Oregonian reports the lawsuit alleges that Goodwin doesn't actually live in House District 4 or Senate District 2.
Goodwin is registered to vote at a Canyonville property that lies inside those districts. But the lawsuit brought by several Grants Pass officials and voters alleges that Goodwin lives at an address in Myrtle Creek, which lies just outside the districts' boundary. Goodwin said in a Monday text that the lawsuit was a "baseless attack" by supporters of Noah Robinson, Art Robinson's son and her opponent in this spring’s primary race for Senate District 2.
The Douglas County Clerk's Office verified Monday that Goodwin is registered at the Canyonville address and has been since December 2021. Travel Oregon lists the address as the site of a tasting room for Falk Estate Vineyards. The assessor's office lists it as a residential property, and Goodwin said by text that the tasting room is no longer in existence and that she lives in a house on the property.
Court records show Josephine County Commissioner John West, Winnie and Edgar Pelfrey, Victoria Marshall and Cathy Millard filed the lawsuit.
