A nonaffiliated candidate hoping to challenge U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas in Oregon's 6th Congressional District has ended his campaign, saying his volunteers could not gather enough handwritten signatures in time to qualify for the November ballot. Jason Faler, a combat veteran and former healthcare executive based in Tigard, announced on Monday that his campaign would fall short of the roughly 3,500 valid signatures required under state law.
Faler's campaign had collected just under 3,000 signatures, according to The Portland Tribune, which reported on his decision to withdraw from the Willamette Valley-based race. The deadline to submit signatures for verification by the Oregon Secretary of State was August 25, leaving little room for a late push. Faler is a fourth-generation Oregonian who served in the U.S. Army for almost 27 years, and he had framed his campaign as a rejection of special political and corporate interests.
A Signature Requirement Built for Failure, Candidate Says
Under Oregon Revised Statutes 249.740 and 249.735, nonaffiliated congressional candidates must either collect verified voter signatures equal to 1% of the votes cast in their district during the last presidential election or hold an “assembly of electors,” where more than 500 registered voters gather in the same place at the same time within a single 12-hour period, according to the Oregon Secretary of State. Major-party candidates, by contrast, pay a flat $100 filing fee to appear on the ballot. Faler said obtaining the required signatures with pen and paper is virtually doomed without many volunteers or paid circulators, and his campaign had aimed to collect 4,500 signatures to account for any that might be ruled invalid.
Oregon's closed primary system compounds the challenge, since nonaffiliated voters are barred from participating in major-party primaries and independent candidates depend entirely on this petition process to reach the general election, per the Oregon Legislative Information System. That structure stands in contrast to the state's voter rolls: nonaffiliated voters make up Oregon's largest registration bloc at roughly 37%, or more than 1.1 million voters, ahead of Democrats at 31% and Republicans at 24%, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Faler Wants Lawmakers to Legalize Digital Signatures
Faler raised $15,000 from individual donors during his run, and he said he plans to push lawmakers to consider allowing digital signature collection for candidates in future election cycles. He described social media as the new town square, arguing that digital tools could help campaigns like his succeed where paper petitions failed.
Oregon election regulations currently permit electronic petition templates for state initiative and referendum petitions, but state law does not allow digital signature collection for candidate nominating petitions, the Oregon Capital Chronicle's reporting confirmed. Election officials have said candidate nominating petitions must still be circulated manually on paper, a legal gap Faler hopes to close before he potentially runs again in 2028.
Salinas Heads Into November With Financial Edge
Faler's exit leaves Salinas, a Democrat now in her second term, set to face Republican David Russ, a former city councilor and five-term mayor of Dundee, in November. The 6th District, created after the 2020 U.S. Census gave Oregon a sixth House seat for the first time in 40 years, spans Polk and Yamhill counties along with parts of Salem and southwestern Portland suburbs in Marion, Clackamas, and Washington counties, representing more than 720,000 residents with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+6, according to the U.S. House of Representatives. Salinas won the district's inaugural 2022 race against Republican Mike Erickson with 50.1% of the vote and won a 2024 rematch before this cycle's race against Russ.
The financial gap between the two remaining candidates is stark. Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by KLCC show Salinas raised more than $282,000 in the first quarter of 2026 and held nearly $590,000 in cash on hand heading into May, while Russ reported raising slightly over $5,000 in April. The Cook Political Report rates the Salinas-Russ contest as Solid Democratic, and Faler's withdrawal removes the district's main nonaffiliated option for a general electorate where independents outnumber either major party.
Minor Parties Also Losing Ground in Oregon
Faler's departure comes amid broader shifts in Oregon's third-party landscape. In August, the Oregon Secretary of State's Office announced that two minor parties, the Constitution Party and the We the People Party, lost official party status after falling below voter registration thresholds, leaving the state with two major and six minor parties. Oregon requires parties to maintain registration equal to at least 0.25% of registered voters or meet specific gubernatorial vote thresholds to retain ballot access.
