Marc Thielman

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Marc Thielman (Republican Party) ran for election for Governor of Oregon. He lost in the Republican primary on May 17, 2022.

Thielman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Marc Thielman was born in Spokane, Washington. Thielman's professional experience includes working as a K-12 public school superintendent, small business owner, farmer, and fabricator. He earned a bachelor's degree from Whitworth University in 1993, a graduate degree from Eastern Washington University in 1997, and a degree from Washington State University in 2005.^[1]

Thielman has been affiliated with the following organizations:^[1]

Oregon Firearms Federation (OFF)
Oregonians for Medical Freedom
Stand for Health Freedom
Parents Rights in Education
Oregon Natural Resource Industries
Education Freedom

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Governor of Oregon

The following candidates ran in the general election for Governor of Oregon on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tina Kotek (D / Working Families Party)	47.0	917,074
	Christine Drazan (R)	43.5	850,347
	Betsy Johnson (Independent)	8.6	168,431
	Donice Smith (Constitution Party)	0.4	8,051
	R. Leon Noble (L)	0.4	6,867
	Paul Romero (Constitution Party of Oregon) (Write-in)	0.0	0
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2,113

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,952,883
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Nathalie Paravicini (Pacific Green Party / Progressive Party)
Tom Cox (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tina Kotek	56.0	275,301
		Tobias Read	31.7	156,017
		Patrick Starnes	2.1	10,524
		George Carrillo	1.9	9,365
		Michael Trimble	1.0	5,000
		John Sweeney	0.9	4,193
		Julian Bell	0.8	3,926
		Wilson Bright	0.5	2,316
		Dave Stauffer	0.5	2,302
		Ifeanyichukwu Diru	0.4	1,780
	Submit photo	Keisha Merchant	0.4	1,755
	Submit photo	Genevieve Wilson	0.3	1,588
		Michael Cross	0.3	1,342
	Submit photo	David Beem	0.3	1,308
		Peter Hall	0.2	982
		Other/Write-in votes	2.8	13,746

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 491,445
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Oregon

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Oregon on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christine Drazan	22.5	85,255
		Bob Tiernan	17.5	66,089
		Stan Pulliam	10.9	41,123
		Bridget Barton	10.8	40,886
		Bud Pierce	8.7	32,965
		Marc Thielman	7.9	30,076
		Kerry McQuisten	7.6	28,727
	Submit photo	Bill Sizemore	3.5	13,261
		Jessica Gomez	2.6	9,970
		Tim McCloud	1.2	4,400
		Nick Hess	1.1	4,287
		Court Boice	1.1	4,040
		Brandon Merritt	1.0	3,615
	Submit photo	Reed Christensen	0.8	3,082
		Amber Richardson	0.5	1,924
		Raymond Baldwin	0.1	459
		David Burch	0.1	406
	Submit photo	John Presco	0.0	174
		Stefan Strek	0.0	171
		Other/Write-in votes	2.0	7,407

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 378,317
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 1, 2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Marc Thielman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Thielman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a husband, father, farmer, and educator and I have been fighting and winning against intrusive government for the past decade. As Alsea School Superintendent, I broke ranks and fought to keep my school open fulltime K-12 during the COVID shutdowns, and most recently implemented a Masks-Optional policy in January. These actions sparked a movement that garnered national attention and forced Governor Brown to set an end date for indoor Masking.

Oregon needs proven leader -not another establishment politician- who upholds our constitutional and community values through a relationship of service and responsiveness to the will of the people. The voters need to be able to see their Governor working for them in empowerment, collaboration and consent NOT force and coercion. As Governor, I will champion the values of Faith, Family, and Freedom.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Reestablish community safety and the rule of law: Fund our Police, set clear standards for civil conduct, repeal measure 110, restore norms and accountability.
Uproot indoctrination and focus on academic excellence and implement school choice as determined by Parents with funding to follow their student.
Restore our economy and revive small business, open up and invest in our ports, incentivize investment in new businesses, and champion individual freedom and responsibility.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1) Restore education by banning divisive CRT, CSE, and SEL curriculums and refocusing our classrooms back to reading, writing, math, science, shop, technology, art, music, etc. Our schools should be safe, clean, well-maintained and focused on student achievement that teaches kids how to think and not what to think. Good character development, personal responsibility, and resiliency skills should dictate the natural of our social curriculums not divisive and victimizing activist ideologies.

2) Re-establish a healthy relationship with Law and Order by funding and supporting law enforcement, defining terms with clarity, such as what constitutes a protest vs. a riot, and use every tool available to support our District Attorney's to prosecute violators. Our justice system must follow through in order for citizens to feel safe and secure in their persons, homes, streets, and communities.

3) I believe in access for the average working Oregonian to our natural resources, economic opportunities, and open spaces where young people can set a course or their life and have their dreams come true. I will open up our forests to logging, and fire prevention, relax regulations for small miners, and prioritize the management and provision of water resources to our tribes, farmers, ranchers, and rivers. We can have both fish and farms. Finally, I will open our Ports, invest in infrastructure, suspend the Gas Tax, and create a small/medium sized business tax moratorium,.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I have great admiration for Gandhi, Martin Luther King (MLK), and Abraham Lincoln. Gandhi demonstrated the importance of self sacrifice, emotional control, and the power of peaceful protest. MLK taught us the necessity of judging other based on the content of their character rather than their characteristics. His message was a powerful force for unity in our diverse United States of America. Finally, Abraham Lincoln modelled the power of leadership during times of great political division as he led our nation through the Civil War, emancipated and ended slavery and modelled the need to unify our people back into a union of states through truth and grace. Lincoln modelled these values best at a party to celebrate the end of the war. When asked what song he wanted the band to play Lincoln said, "please play Dixie, which was the soul song of the rebellious South. It was this kind of focus and wisdom delivered in times of intense division that restored our Union and in doing so lifted up the world.

Why? Leadership matters, and here in Oregon we are lacking in good leadership that is focused on serving hard working Oregonians. I espouse the values of Faith, Family, Freedom, and Personal Responsibility. I believe and trust each Oregonian to know best how to manage their own lives and I am dedicated to making sure our state government exists to empower and support them rather than coerce and control them. Oregon needs a grass roots political outsiders to lead our state back to balance, common sense and opportunity.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Primary documents of Ben Franklin, the Federalist Papers, 1984 by George Orwell, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Eisenhower's Final Speech to America.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty

Integrity
Knowledge
Intelligence
Courage of Conviction
Love of Service to others before self
High level of Executive Functioning Skills
Tenacity and Grit
A well developed sense of Humor

Truth and Grace

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have proven executive leadership skills needed to lead a state government the size of Oregon. I also have proven problem solving and policy skills that have been shown to work when implemented. As a policy strategist, I have successfully worked with both Democrats and Republicans on key policy initiatives in the areas, of education, Public Employee Retirement System reform, seismic retrofit funding, and minimum funding levels for low population counties for roads and infrastructure projects.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Core responsibilities:

Tell the truth
Apply the State and Federal Constitutions
Serve the People responsively
Lead with good policy solutions to real problems
Be consistent
Address the people often (weekly if possible)

Generate real results that the majority of citizens can see

What legacy would you like to leave?

I wish to be known as a governor who served the people and not himself. A true problem solver and unifier in support of faith, family and freedom.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The first historical event that happened in my lifetime that I remember was the resignation of President Nixon due to fallout from the Watergate Scandal and subsequent investigation. I was four years old at the time. As a small child I remember sitting with my parents as they watched his resignation address to the nation. My mother was worried that Gerald Ford would not be strong enough to hold Nixon accountable. As history notes, her concerns were valid, as Gerald Ford chose to pardon Nixon under the guise that the nation needed to move on in unity and not foment more division caused by the scandal and subsequent Vietnam war protest movement. Right, wrong, or indifferent this was my first historical event that I remember.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was washing trucks, trailers, forklifts, and other vehicles and equipment at Ez Loader Boat Trailers in Spokane WA. I worked there for two years while in High School.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Moby Dick, as Melville effectively captures the fine line between reasoned drive and insane passions that drive the complexity of human behavior.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Han Solo from Star Wars.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Bon Jovi -Its my Life

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

I believe struggle is a natural and necessary part of life. I have struggled to get the crops harvested, make payroll, pay the bills, keep the cars running and maintained, and lead a school/school district(s), but all these experiences have served to hone my leadership and problem solving skill set.

A governor is the top executive authority in his or her state. What does that mean do you?

A governor is elected to serve all of the people. They have a duty to tell the truth, implement and effect good policy, and serve the hard working people of Oregon. They are not a dictator and should wield their power dutifully, wisely, and only to the degree necessary to facilitate good outcomes. Frequent press conferences (weekly) are a must so the governor can speak directly to the people of Oregon as a check and balance to what is believed to be a biased main stream media. As top executive, the governor must be problem centered and solution focused and use the bully pulpit to drive good policy outcomes. As a leader, the governor must walk the walk more than talk the talk and always be responsive to the feedback provided by the citizens of Oregon. The people should see the governor listen and then do. In all my varied life experiences I have never met anyone who likes being lied to, yet the evidence is clear that our current governor has done just that on a regular basis and the confidence of the people in our government has suffered as a result. I am running to restore this confidence, tell the truth, effect good policy and real solutions to the many challenges facing our state.

Governors have many responsibilities, which vary from state to state. Which of those do you personally consider the most important in your state?

The highest responsibility of any Governor is to tell the truth and engage in the market place of opposing ideas as a means of finding true solutions, and possibly some common ground. This kind of process builds unity and heals divisions that are unfortunately dominating our present state and national politics.

Different states require governors to have different degrees of responsibility for the state budgeting process. If it were your choice, what do you believe is the appropriate degree of gubernatorial involvement with this process in your state?

In Oregon, the governor's office builds the Governor's Budget, which serves as the starting document for the legislature to wrangle with. Ultimately, the legislature forms and approves the final budget but the governor has a high degree of influence and ability to inform the legislature on key budget initiatives. This process forms a check and balance that is intended to drive debate, analysis, and policy funding priorities.

From my experience consulting and working with the legislature and advocating for education funding priorities, I believe the current budgeting process is a healthy one with a few concerns. In Oregon, the legislative revenue office has a long track record of grossly under-estimating projected revenues from nearly all sources. This creates pressure to raise taxes, fees, and create new sources of revenue that invariably lead to massive "over-collection" of revenues that have become very unpopular over time with the average tax payer. As governor, I will work to put some safeguards in place to require more accurate estimates with real-time moratorium on tax collections once budgeted revenue metrics are met. This will create an incentive to drill down estimates more accurately based on sound economic data, and in recognition of the burden undue taxes are creating for our people and our businesses.

In most states, governors have the power to make line-item vetoes. If that is true in your state, what would be your philosophy for how and when to use this power?

Oregon allows the governor to use the line item veto. I will be very aggressive with this power regarding any new tax legislation, gun rights restriction, tax dollars appropriated for abortions, tolling laws, and unreasonable agency fee increases, among other initiatives. Oregon businesses need tax and regulatory relief, and housing and urban growth laws are in need of reform in order to address the homeless and housing shortage in the state. The line item veto can be an effective tool at addressing approved legislation that has been "stuffed" with unrelated appropriations and regulations that are designed to serve the government and not the people.

If the governor's office in your state does not have the line-item veto power, do you believe it should? Why or why not?

N/A

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

The ideal relationship is one of respect and reciprocity. The reality is far from these lofty ideals. As Governor, I will be very clear and concise about my position on key issues. and I will use weekly press conferences to communicate my positions, policies, and solutions directly to the people of Oregon. Strong conservative leadership is the only mechanism for moving the policy dial back toward common sense, accountability, law and order, and a more civil society.

What do you love most about your state?

Oregon is the most diverse and beautiful state in the union. The people of Oregon have a pioneer spirit, accepting hearts, and love of diversity, vitality and the American adventure.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Education Reform

Homelessness, Education Reform, banning of divisive CRT, CSE, and SEL curriculums and teacher activism in the classroom.
Crime and lawlessness
Civil unrest in Portland
Affordable Housing
Access for working citizens to natural resources and economic opportunity
Federal forest mismanagement
Wolves and other Predation affects on livestock and wildlife populations
Port Policy and infrastructure investments and expansions
Over taxation
Public Employee Retirement System Reform
Decoupling of funding

Reigning in OHA and repealing all Mandates

Tell us your favorite joke.

N/A

Under what circumstances should the governor of your state be able to use emergency powers?

The emergency powers of the Oregon Governor a very broad and have been used to create "permanent" regulations regarding masking, and vaccination mandates. These powers are clearly not allowed under the State Constitution and should be rescinded. As Governor, I will only access emergency powers to address real emergencies and I will set clear constitutional timelines if these powers need to be extended. This means reconvening the legislature as required by the Oregon State Constitution. Further, under the execution of emergency powers a constitutional lens must be applied to protect people's rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 6, 2022

[bio-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 6, 2022

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Marc Thielman

Contents

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for Governor of Oregon

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Oregon

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Oregon

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2024 Elections

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