Knives Out in GOP Primary Race as Dudley and Diehl Attack Drazan for Refusing to Face Oregon Voters

Portland, OR - With less than six weeks left until the May primary, the GOP gubernatorial candidates have already begun sharpening their knives. Yesterday, Chris Dudley slammedChristine Drazan for being a "career politician" after she dropped out of a debate hosted by the Oregonian and KGW - marking a serious escalation in the increasingly nasty GOP primary fight.

Dudley also blasted Drazan for being too afraid to face voters - saying it was a "shame that Drazan is running away from this opportunity"- before he dropped out of the debate himself. The news comes just two weeks after both Drazan and Dudley dropped out of a conservative debatein Salem, prompting fellow GOP candidate Ed Diehl to also withdraw from the event.

Diehl also ripped intoDrazan and Dudley: "How very pitiful that two adults running for governor are afraid to face voters or answer important questions about their vision for Oregon. Why so chicken? Answer: because neither Drazan nor Dudley have offered taxpayers a single compelling reason why Republican primary voters should vote for them."

"The Republican GOP primary is getting ugly fast," said Federico Araujo, DPO Communications Advisor. "At the end of the day, Drazan, Dudley and Diehl are all scared of the same thing: they know that stepping up on a stage means defending their support for Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda, and they're too cowardly to do it."

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