Why is Nike founder Phil Knight so desperate to prevent a Democratic win in Oregon?

[turbinetree]

Andrew Lawrence
Thu 3 Nov 2022 01.00 EDT

Knight’s backing for Christine Drazan clashes with the company’s progressive image. Could it tip the governor’s race?

If Republicans win the race for Oregon governor, it will be down to one man: Phil Knight.

Knight, of course, is the 84-year-old co-founder and chair emeritus of Nike, the house that Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods built. And in this race to govern Oregon, a bastion of west coast liberalism, Knight has thrown full support behind the Republican Christine Drazan, an anti-abortion, tough-on-crime former lobbyist pushing “election integrity”. In a rare interview with the New York Times, Knight made his motive clear: Oregon’s next governor can be anyone but the Democratic nominee, Tina Kotek.

Knight’s lavish support of the right would seem to betray Nike’s own pursuit of social equality and environmental protection. After all, this is the “Just Do It” brand that champions Serena Williams, that kneels with Colin Kaepernick, that featured Argentina’s first trans female soccer player in a recent advertisement.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/03/nike-phil-knight-christine-drazan-tina-kotek

[JT45242]

1. Just do it...as long as you don't tax billionaire donors

Nike is a sweat shop owning, child labor and near slavery condition factory hell hole country that plays nice in the media.

Look at how they treat female workers in Indonesia, Malaysia, etc . He gets a free pass far too often. Will never buy anything Nike. Just won't.

This solidified it even more

[The Unmitigated Gall]

2. Enough is never enough for these people.

[twodogsbarking]

3. Nike has a hold and won't let go.

[link:https://allamerican.org/investigation/nike/|

[gratuitous]

4. He wants to supplant Merritt Paulson as the most hated man in Oregon sports?

Apparently Phil doesn't have enough money or enemies. He also poured a boatload of money into Betsy Johnson's campaign. She's the "unaffiliated" *wink* candidate, who was an early darling of the contrarians until her poll numbers started tanking as Oregon voters remembered that Johnson's greatest political passion is Johnson's political career.

[BlueIdaho]

5. It wasn't that long ago that the Oregon GQP couldn't find it ass with both hands...

May they don’t need to with that kind of money behind them?