Oregon turning dark blue?

'Birdie' Sanders in Portland in March

This Tuesday could yield another victory for Bernie Sanders as party switchers favor the Democrats over the Republicans by almost a 3-to-1 margin.

Yes, of the 139,000 party switchers, more than 92,000 joined the Democratic ranks.

Now, it could be primary shenanigans at play with Republicans and others switching to Democrats to vote for Bernie over Hillary Clinton. Oregon's demographics, as white as the driven snow, favor Sanders. But, Hillary will win here in November if she's the nominee.

Or, there could be thousands of voters out there so appalled by Donald Trump's campaign that they're fleeing to the Democrats.

Either way, it does not bode well for Republicans to win a statewide race this November.

That's all well and good because Republicans have proven to be incapable of representing the interests of the majority of Oregonians.

Kate Brown, who took over when John Kitzhaber resigned in disgrace in early 2015, should win easily to finish out Kitzhaber's term. With Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate, she's had one of the most successful and consequential stints as governor in Oregon's history. From increasing the minimum wage to paid sick leave to free community college to motor-voter registration to gun safety reform, she's been phenomenal.

The Democratic race for secretary of state, the position that Brown had before becoming governor, is more wide open. Richard Devlin, Brad Avakian and Val Hoyle are all worthy of the office, but Avakian stands out for his call to audit corporations that win state contracts. As more and more government functions get out-sourced, this is critical. Great idea.

The only other issue on our ballot that matters is the usual begging by the 9-1-1 entity for more money. This time they say it's for the creation of a 9-1-1 district with a permanent tax rate. This means our bill will balloon from 36 cents per thousand to 42 cents per thousand of home valuation.

It's tiring to always have to vote on a basic service. If those who believe the failed gas tax was merely to fund retirement accounts of ex-city employees, the same argument can be made on the 9-1-1 issue.

While The Donald will easily win the Republican primary, he'll get trounced in November by whoever runs on the Democratic ticket. There's about 270,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in this state. Also, the nearly 500,000 non-affiliated voters aren't likely to break for Trump. He's too repulsive, even for many Oregon Republicans.

Oregon is a progressive state. Call it cobalt blue.

Thank god.