Initial Harney County Election results: school bond measure fails, Incumbents and write-ins highlight local races

By Mindy McKerrall on Wednesday, November 4th, 2026 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News Eastern/Southeast Oregon Top Stories

HARNEY COUNTY-Harney County election officials have released initial, unofficial results for local races, state contests, and a key school district ballot measure, with final tallies expected to shift as remaining ballots are counted.

Leading the local ballot measures, Measure 13-28—which proposed issuing bonds for Harney County School District No. 3 alongside a state matching grant—is currently failing by a wide margin. Approximately 58.31% of voters opposed the bond measure, compared to 41.69% voting in favor.

Municipal & County Contests

In county-level governance, Bobbi Jo Heany secured an overwhelming 99.27% of the vote for Harney County Treasurer, with write-in votes accounting for the remaining 0.73%.

Across local city councils, several candidates ran uncontested, while other seats were left entirely to write-in candidates:

City of Burns: Andrew Roy took 96.97% of the vote for Burns Councilperson Position No. 5 (write-in 3.03%). Positions No. 4 and No. 6 drew no filed candidates, leaving both races to 100% write-in tallies.
City of Hines: Council races saw solid support for all three filed candidates: Dean Brizendine captured 96.08% for Position 4, Kim Valentine earned 97.77% for Position 5, and Misty Shepherd took 97.30% for Position 6. Write-in votes represented less than 4% in each race.
Harney Soil and Water Conservation District: Carol A. Dunten led Zone 3 with 98.72% of the vote, while Stacy L. Davies secured Zone 4 with 97.84%. The Director At-Large 2 race saw no candidate file, leaving it entirely to write-in ballots (100%).

Local Voting in State and Federal Contests

Harney County voters favored Republican candidates across statewide and federal tickets by wide margins:

Governor: Christine Drazan (Republican, Libertarian) carried the county with 81.10% of local votes, followed by Tina Kotek (Democrat, Working Families) at 16.04%, Brett Smith (Pacific Green) at 2.68%, and write-ins at 0.19%.
U.S. Senate: Republican David Brock Smith earned 75.14% of the county vote, leading Democrat/Working Families incumbent Jeff Merkley (21.91%), Libertarian Gary Lyndon Dye (1.45%), Progressive/Pacific Green candidate Chris Henry (1.40%), and write-in candidates (0.11%).
U.S. Representative, 2nd District: Incumbent Republican Cliff Bentz dominated local voting with 78.92%, over Democrat/Independent challenger Chris Beck (20.75%) and write-ins (0.33%).
State Representative, 60th District: Republican Mark Owens received 82.58% in Harney County against Democrat Beth Spell’s 16.84%, with write-ins making up 0.58%.

Election officials noted that these figures represent early returns and that certified totals will follow once all processed ballots are finalized.