‘She’s not protecting our well-being’: La Pine chief petitioner speaks out on why he began recall effort targeting Governor Kotek
Claire Elmer
(Update: Adding video, adding interview with petitioner, statement from governor’s office)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A recall effort is underway against Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, and it’s led by a Central Oregonian. William Minnix, a resident of La Pine, started the petition recently and told KTVZ News on Monday that the recall is driven by accountability.
Minnix is part of a group called Oregon for the People and filed the initial petition to recall Governor Kotek a week ago. After what Minnix claims were delays by the state, he didn’t receive approval to start collecting signatures until last Friday.
“I found out the person with the elections office was out on vacation now, and they told me I’d have to wait until August 12th,” Minnix told us. “So I did a press release stating exactly what happened, and I thought the Secretary of State was stalling. Lo and behold, 10 o’clock that day, I got my approval.”
Minnix says the recall effort is strictly a grassroots movement, and volunteers are already gathering signatures in every county.
“I set up two businesses for Deschutes County, which is La Pine Feed Store and Wetlands Taphouse. They have the petition. We were at the County Fair in Deschutes County, and we got well over 500 signatures,” said Minnix.
Minnix believes Governor Kotek has violated her oath of office by failing to protect property owners, over-taxing working families, and favoring undocumented immigrants over federal law.
“She took an oath to protect the people of Oregon,” he said. “By us not getting federal grants, because she’s not following federal law, that’s a violation of her oath. She’s not protecting property owners. She’s not protecting the citizens. She’s not protecting our well-being.”
Minnix will not name a favored replacement candidate and says the focus is on building momentum ahead of the midterms.
“Our big focus with Oregon For The People is to focus on the midterms, and make sure that we’re able to bring in governing people that are for the people and for our well-being,” Minnix said.
To qualify for a recall election, the group must collect nearly 293,000 valid voter signatures by October 27th. Minnix said he is confident they will not only meet but exceed that requirement.
“I’m really confident that we’re going to get well over 400,000. At this point, it’s becoming very bipartisan,” he said. “The team is really coming together. Lots of support, and a lot of us are going to be putting in long, long hours.”
If the signature requirement is met and enough are verified by the state election office, Kotek would have five days to resign before a recall election would be started.
Nationwide, recall activity is down in 2025. According to Ballotpedia, just 223 officials were targeted for recall through mid-June — the lowest number since 2020. In 2024, Oregon had the highest recall attempts rate in the nation, with 0.76 recall attempts per 100,000 residents.
KTVZ News reached out to Governor Kotek’s office for comment on the recall effort. Kotek’s campaign advisor, Thomas Wheatley, issued a brief response:
“The Governor is focused on tackling the toughest challenges facing our state — making housing more affordable, expanding access to mental health care, improving our schools, and ensuring we can pay the workers who run snowplows in the winter and keep our roads safe year-round.”
Minnix hopes to have more signing sites in the coming days. Locations and upcoming efforts will be posted to their website: OregonForThePeople.com.