Democrat Caballero takes landslide victory for shot at state House District 6

Published 10:40 pm Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Oregon lawmakers have nearly $560 million more than expected to spend by next June. Most of that is money that went unspent in the state’s last two year budget.

Medford police cultural outreach coordinator Lilia Caballero claimed a landslide victory Tuesday against former real estate agent and former grocery clerk John Holm in a bid to run against incumbent state Rep. Kim Wallan, R-Medford, in the November election for state House District 6.

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According to unofficial election results released at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Caballero, a Medford School District board member since 2015, commanded 91% of the votes cast to Holm’s 8.3% — or 2,912 votes to 266.

Caballero, who ran on a platform of building stronger families and focusing on affordable housing, as well as improving access to quality childcare and mental health resources, said she was humbled by the Tuesday night results.

“I am humbled and honored that Medford residents chose me to be the Democratic candidate to serve as our community’s representative in the state Legislature,” Caballero, 64, told the Rogue Valley Times in a text message Tuesday night.

Holm, a Medford resident caring for their elderly mother (Holm prefers they/them pronouns) ran on concerns that ranged from minimum wage discrepancies, rising health care costs and finding creative solutions to homelessness-related issues.

While Tuesday’s election was Caballero’s first run for a state-level office, Holm ran previously for Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District under the name Kira Holm.

Wallan ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary, garnering all but 64 write-in votes of 3,704 cast.

Wallan said in a previous interview that she was eager to continue focusing on important regional issues, including homelessness, Measure 110, cannabis policy, the housing shortage and a need for expanded mental health resources.

With significant changes made in recent months to Measure 110 — Oregon’s landmark drug law whose decriminalization component was rolled back during this year’s short legislative session — Wallan said she wanted to stick around to “make any tweaks we might need to and make sure that’s funded appropriately.”

Wallan said changes to cannabis policy — intertwined with Measure 110’s revisions — would also be an important focus.

Caballero said she was up for a run against Wallan in November.

“I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas with voters, and think what I have to say will resonate with them,” Caballero said.

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