He Just Did It: Phil Knight Donates Hundreds of Thousands to Oregon Republicans

Oregon's wealthiest man - Nike founder Phil Knight - opened up his wallet last month, writing hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks to seven Republicans seeking seats in the Oregon State Legislature.

The donations, first reported by the Eugene Register-Guard, went to two incumbents and five people seeking open seats.

One of those incumbents - Mark Johnson from Hood River - received the largest donation, $80.000 while the other incumbent, West Linn's Julie Parrish, received $25,000.

The other donations went to Lori Chavez-DeRemer from Happy Valley ($50,000), Dan Mason from Hillsboro ($50,000), Patti Milne from Woodburn ($50,000), Ron Noble from McMinnville ($50,000), and Rich Vial from Wilsonville ($25,000).

All seven are Republicans.

The donations are unusual for Knight who - when he gives in legislative races - tends to give to both sides of the aisle as he did in 2012 when he gave to 10 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

In 2014, he avoided giving to state legislative races but gave $250,000 to then-Governor John Kitzhaber's re-election campaign.

Shortly after receiving the donation, Kitzhaber endorsed a multi-million state subsidy for a Nike-backed bid by Eugene to try to get the 2019 World Track Championships. While Eugene didn't win the bid, they did get the 2021 championships.

Photo by Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images