SALEM — Former Oregon House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, issued a surprise announcement Monday afternoon: She has suspended her campaign for secretary of state.

In an email to supporters, Williamson cited an unidentified story “currently being pushed in the media (that) is designed to question my use of campaign funds and unfairly attack my integrity.”

Willamette Week subsequently announced it was working on the story Williamson referenced, then posted its findings at 5 p.m. Williamson’s announcement was first reported on Twitter by freelance journalist Dick Hughes.

Jennifer Williamson is dropping her campaign for Oregon secretary of state. #ORpol. — DickHughes (@DickHughes) February 10, 2020

Williamson did not return a call for comment on Monday.

In her email, Williamson asserted, “I have always followed Oregon campaign finance laws and fully reported all expenditures for travel and other expenses while fulfilling my responsibilities as House Democratic majority leader and fact-finding as a state legislator. In fact, I often used campaign dollars in place of taxpayer dollars.”

“Politics is nothing new to me and I fully expected at least a few bruising fights over the course of this important election for secretary of state,” Williamson continued. “What I didn’t expect was a baseless story that questions my integrity, that of my family, and the legal use of campaign funds. I won’t allow my family to be put through this.”

From March 2014 to August 2019, Williamson’s campaign paid for more than $32,000 in airfare, including trips to Europe, Asia and Hawaii, Oregon campaign finance records show.

During the period, Williamson spent $24,000 on lodging outside of Oregon, including $1,900 for a stay in a Los Angeles Marriott in August 2018, $1,200 for a Boston hotel in August 2017, $1,000 for a Hong Kong hotel in June 2014, $1,200 each for two stays in D.C. in October 2015 and July 2016, $400 for an October 2017 visit to Munich, $1,000 for an August 2019 stay in Nashville and $600 for a July 2018 stay in Dublin, Ireland.

Williamson spent far more campaign money on out-of-state travel than any other lawmaker still in office, an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive found.

She spent roughly $10,000 a year over 5 1/2 years. The next highest spender is Sen. Arnie Roblan, a Coos Bay Democrat, who spent a little less than $4,000 a year over eight years to travel to Alberta, Canada; Dallas; Big Sky, Montana; Anchorage; Washington, D.C.; and elsewhere.

Williamson’s abrupt departure appears to smooth the potential path to victory for Sen. Mark Hass, a longtime Democratic lawmaker from Beaverton who is more moderate than Williamson. After Williamson’s announcement, Hass took to Twitter to express his hope that “she can return to public service someday.”

Hass worked as a television journalist in Oregon for two decades before he ran for the Legislature and hails from the populous Portland metropolitan area. He faces Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a natural resources consultant from central Oregon who ran an unsuccessful albeit serious campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Greg Walden in 2018, and Cameron Smith, the director of Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services. The regulatory agency oversees areas including insurance and building codes.

Today must be difficult for Jennifer Williamson. I wish her the best.I hope she can return to public service someday. In the meantime, I'll continue traveling the state, talking to Oregonians about election security and getting big money out of politics. #orsos #orpol @ORDems — Mark Hass (@MarkHassOregon) February 10, 2020

Williamson is a lawyer who first won election to the Legislature in 2012. Fellow Democrats in the House chose her to become their majority leader when Val Hoyle stepped out of the role to run for secretary of state. As majority leader, Williamson advocated for Democratic priorities such as paid family and medical leave and helped lead the caucus to a 2019 supermajority that allowed Democrats to pass a long-sought business tax. She played a controversial role in persuading fellow lawmakers to vote to limit the circumstances in which Oregon convicts can be sentenced to death.

Williamson wrote that she decided to withdraw from the Democratic primary race “before the filing deadline on March 10, 2020 in the hope that another truly progressive leader will be able to step into this Democratic primary and continue the fight to protect our democracy.”

On the Republican side, Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer announced last week she plans to run for secretary of state. The position is currently the only statewide office held by a Republican, after Dennis Richardson won election in 2016. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, appointed Secretary of State Bev Clarno to the job after Richardson died last year of brain cancer.

Investigations Editor Steve Suo contributed to this report.

— Hillary Borrud | hborrud@oregonian.com | 503-294-4034 | @hborrud

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