PRESS RELEASE
‘Walk-Out Wonder’ Drazan Walks Out of Her Own Meet-n-Greet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2026
Contact:
Mary Closson
971-301-4881
‘Walk-Out Wonder’ Drazan Walks Out of Her Own Meet-n-Greet
Refuses to answer questions about ICE, immigration
Woodburn, Ore. – Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan held a campaign rally on Tuesday at Al's Garden Center in Woodburn, one of Oregon's communities most heavily targeted by federal immigration sweeps, triggering calls from residents and customers to boycott the nursery chain.
Community members and former customers of Al's Garden Center took to social media to call out the nursery – which operates four stores in the northern Willamette Valley – for backing Drazan's Trump-aligned policies.
According to reports across Meta platforms, Drazan, the author of the Oregon Republican Party’s legislative walk-out playbook, walked out of her own meet-and-greet rather than answer questions about how she’d respond to ICE’s unprecedented aggression, cruelty, and civil rights violations.
“As a naturalized citizen, and as someone with deep appreciation for the work our farmworkers do, I find Senator Drazan’s avoidance of the topic deeply troubling. The Hispanic community in Oregon is terrified; I’ve heard it firsthand, knocking on doors. It’s clear to me that Drazan won’t stand up to Donald Trump’s Administration, and therefore she can’t stand up for all Oregonians,” said House District 18 independent candidate Roy Kaufmann.
The question is especially urgent given just how crucial immigrant labor is to Oregon’s agriculture sector, of which nurseries are a significant contributor. People began posting about Drazan’s walk-out on social media, with many not realizing just how much money companies like Al’s Garden Center have donated to Drazan as well as the nursery industry’s other legislative priority, Republican HD18 candidate Amanda Staehely.
Al's has been a significant financial contributor to the Drazan campaign, donating $11,600 directly, and contributing a further $10,000 to the Republican-aligned Oregon Nurseries PAC (ONPAC).
The Oregon Association of Nurseries - of which ONPAC is the political lobbying wing - has contributed nearly $200,000 to Drazan since her first race in 2018, donating over $70,000 to Drazan's current campaign against Governor Tina Kotek.
One Willamette Valley resident posted to Threads, "I've been shopping at Al's almost exclusively for 40+ years. Today I called them to let them know they won't be getting any more of MY bucks." Said another, “This was my local garden store until now. Drazan will destroy everything that is beautiful about Oregon. Woodburn deserves better.”
Like Drazan, Staehely is a resident of Canby, and is running as a Republican against Kaufmann in HD18. Staehely is a former president of the Oregon Association of Nurseries, and ONPAC has spent $38,650 on her campaign, more than any other candidate besides Drazan. Al’s Garden Center is Staehely’s largest individual donor, donating $7,000 as of October.
Drazan and Staehely have been campaigning on a platform of repealing Oregon’s agriculture worker overtime laws, which as of 2027 will grant farm and nursery workers the same overtime protections non-ag workers enjoy. Agricultural employers are already compensated for overtime wages paid to their workers in the form of state tax credits.
“Nurseries are a vital part of our ag economy, and of my district’s history, but no one industry’s bottom line is more important than people’s dignity and their constitutional rights,” Kaufmann added.
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