Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof can't run for governor, Oregon Supreme Court rules

Less than four months after former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof jumped into Oregon's gubernatorial race, the state's Supreme Court has ruled he's not actually eligible.

Kristof announced in October he was running for governor of Oregon as a Democrat after resigning from The New York Times. But in January, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said he was ineligible to run due to rules requiring candidates be a resident of the state for three years prior to the election.

"In order to satisfy the three-year residency requirement, you must have been a resident in Oregon for the entire three-year period beginning in November 2019," state elections director Deborah Scroggin told Kristof, according to The Washington Post. "But the objective facts, including your decision to vote in New York, convincingly suggest that you resided in New York at least from November 2019 to December 2020."

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Kristof claimed state officials were "trying to toss me from the ballot" because of his "willingness to challenge the status quo," and he appealed the decision. But on Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Kristof isn't eligible to run, Axios reports.

The justices noted Kristof "remained registered to vote in New York and retained a New York driver's license until late 2020, actions that are at odds with an intent to change his domicile to Oregon a year or more earlier," the Times reports.

Kristof called the ruling "very disappointing" but said "I'm not giving up on our state." Fagan, meanwhile, told Politico prior to the ruling, "We apply the rules. We're going to apply them consistently, regardless of who someone is or how much money they raised or how famous they are."