In an email Monday, Golden said he will not seek the nomination and instead will remain in the Senate.
“A few dozen conversations, patient counseling from friends and long hours of reflection have brought me to a clear conclusion: More than serving as treasurer, I want to continue working in the state Senate for stable wildfire funding, campaign finance reform and programs that grow opportunities for struggling Oregonians,” he said.
This leaves just two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination: state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner of Portland and Jeff Gudman, a former city councilman from Lake Oswego who previously ran as a Republican. Steiner, a family physician and instructor at Oregon Health & Science University, has served as co-chair of the powerful budget-writing Joint Ways and Means Committee for the last five years and is considered a frontrunner. No Republicans are registered to run yet.
The treasurer oversees state investments, including the $94 billion Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, or PERS, and manages public banking and saving programs including the Oregon College Savings Plan and OregonSaves, a retirement plan for self-employed workers.
Golden, a former Jackson County commissioner and broadcast journalist, has served in the Senate since 2018 and is chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire. He said he initially decided to run not because he dreamed of being state treasurer, but out of a desire to get state money out of investments he said are harmful to Oregonians. In the end, he said, he did not want the job badly enough.
“My urge to run wasn’t about becoming state treasurer as much as shining a spotlight on one message: It’s time for the Treasury to stop investing money in activities that clearly hurt Oregonians,” he said.
As examples, he said investments in fossil fuel companies contribute to climate change and in private equity firms drive housing and rental prices higher.
Golden is co-sponsor of House Bill 4083, also known as the COAL Act, which is awaiting a final vote in the Senate. If passed it would direct the Treasury to divest PERS of holdings in publicly traded companies that derive 20% or more of their revenue from coal production. It would also put limits on new investment in such companies.
“I hope our next treasurer strives to reduce investments harmful to Oregon in ways that fulfill his or her fiduciary obligation. I will actively support that effort as a state senator and concerned citizen,” Golden said.
Oregon’s current state treasurer, Tobias Read, is running for secretary of state after serving for nearly eight years in the job.
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