Oregon Public Broadcasting

Democrat John Kroger may have won both major parties' nominations for Oregon  Attorney General. April Baer explains.

John Kroger created a stir by winning the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. It was his first run for office in Oregon. It looks like he made an impression on Republican voters, too.

The GOP did not field a candidate for this race. Some suggested attorney Ron Saxton might be a good write-in, but he never expressed interest.

A review of election results in Oregon's five largest counties shows among Republican write-ins, Kroger got far more votes than Saxton.

That doesn't mean he'll be running against himself. If the trend holds in certified election results, the Secretary of State's office would formally offer him the nomination.

Assuming Kroger accepted, he'd avoid any major-party challenge in the general election.

A spokeswoman for the party says that's unlikely to happen.

Kroger's campaign manager says no effort was made to go after Republican voters.

Kroger was too busy battling state Representative Greg Macpherson for the Democratic nomination.  But he called he write-in votes "reassuring".