Clackamas County chair race injects partisan factor into non-partisan contest – again

No Clackamas County Commission chair has won reelection since 2008, leaving the non-partisan position seesawing between Democrats and Republicans every term since. This year, incumbent Tootie Smith — an outspoken Republican raised on a farm and steeped in elected politics since her days in the state House two decades ago — hopes to change that. She’s felt the sting before, having lost her bid for reelection as a county commissioner in 2016. Smith fared far better in 2020, when she ousted the incumbent chair, a Democrat, with a healthy 53%...