Wildbill

PENDLETON — A Pendleton woman running to succeed Bill Hansell, of Athena, in the Oregon Senate has dropped out of the race — opting instead to focus on bridging the growing divide she sees within her community and country.

Tania Wildbill in a recent announcement declared she had withdrawn from the race for Senate District 29. She first withdrew from the primary election as a Democrat and then refiled as a nonaffiliated candidate before pulling out of the race altogether.

“I realized I’ll have a much greater impact by bringing my Global Campaign for Humanity of Bridging the Divide and encouraging people to volunteer and donate to local nonprofits that are providing meaningful resources to community by withdrawing as a state senator candidate and walk my talk as a citizen,” she stated in the Jan. 4 announcement.

Wildbill announced her bid for the Senate seat in late 2023 after Patrick Cahill, Umatilla County Democratic Party chair, asked her to run. She said she felt the call to serve District 29 and wanted to embrace her mother’s message to say yes when called to serve her community.

Wildbill has lived on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton for 24 years and has two daughters who are enrolled members with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.

Four Republicans are running to step into Hansell’s seat: Andy Huwe, of Wallowa County; Jim Doherty, former Morrow County commissioner; Todd Nash, Wallowa County commissioner; and Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann.

When Wildbill launched her campaign she promised to accept donations only to cover expenses as needed.

She said that under pressure she opened accounts with Oregon Elections Systems for Tracking and Reporting — commonly referred to as ORESTAR — and the fundraising platform ActBlue. As of Dec. 29, 2023, Wildbill had $775 in contributions, according to Oregon Secretary of State records.

She has since shut down her campaign webpage, as well as her ORESTAR and ActBlue accounts.

Wildbill said she has received encouragement to continue the campaign her way — without money.

“Yet I’m choosing not to walk into the park of politics as the truth was shown to me the reality that politicians face to accept money,” she said. “If the billions in America spent on campaigns were instead given back to help communities, we would live in a new America.”

Wildbill said there were two defining moments that led her to drop out of the race.

One of these moments happened when she was getting ready for a town hall and listening session.

She said she was told by someone in the Democratic Party that she should not show support for charter schools when filling out a questionnaire from the Oregon Education Association because if she did she would not get funding support from the organization.

Wildbill, who fully supports charter schools, said this suggestion outraged her. This caused her to withdraw from the race as a Democrat and change her voter registration.

“I refuse to walk a path of pressure from special interest groups, corporations and PAC to submit questionnaires to receive funding,” she said.

The second event, which prompted her to drop out of the race entirely, was a friend sharing that her teenage niece in Idaho was threatened in school for sharing which way her parents were voting.

Wildbill said she believes the two-party system is no longer working and something needs to change.