OTEC Board Treasurer Miller Enters Union County Commissioner Race Against Simmons

Cory Miller oversees the finances of a utility cooperative serving nearly 60,000 Oregonians. Now he wants to oversee the budget of their county government, too.

Miller, who has held the treasurer seat on the Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative board since 2022, filed for the open Position 1 seat on the Union County Board of Commissioners before the March 10 non-incumbent deadline. He faces Mark Simmons, a former Oregon House Speaker, in the May 2026 primary.

The seat opened when incumbent Paul Anderes chose not to seek reelection ahead of the March 3 filing deadline. The next commissioner will vote on Union County budget priorities, land use decisions, road expenditures, and public safety allocations alongside Position 2 incumbent Matt Scarfo and Position 3 holder Jake Seavert.

Miller's path to candidacy runs through Baker City. OTEC, founded in 1987 and headquartered there, is one of Oregon's largest electric distribution cooperatives, with a network stretching more than 3,000 miles across Baker, Grant, Harney, and Union counties. As Director Position 7 representing Union County on OTEC's nine-member board, Miller has managed cooperative finances across a service territory that includes La Grande, the county seat. "That really is what changed my life," he said of his board service. "I never had been involved with governance at that level before."

That dual role poses a structural question Miller will need to answer concretely before November: as county commissioner, he would hold influence over policy decisions touching the same Union County ratepayers he currently represents at the cooperative. How he intends to separate his OTEC treasurer obligations from county-level decisions on utility infrastructure and service contracts will be among the first tests of his governing philosophy.

Simmons brings a different set of credentials and a sharper critique of how the board currently operates. The former state representative served in the Oregon House from 1997 to 2002, including two years as Speaker, then directed USDA Rural Development programs in Oregon from 2006 to 2010. He narrowly lost a 2024 bid for Position 3 to Jake Seavert before filing for Position 1 this cycle. Simmons has said he views the current commissioners as "good people" but disagrees with their vision and wants the board to "more aggressively advocate for the community."

The Position 1 contest runs alongside Position 2, where Scarfo is pursuing a third term. That bid became possible only after the Union County Circuit Court ruled in 2025 that term limits on county commissioners were unconstitutional, striking down a 2016 voter-approved measure. Position 3, held by Seavert, is not on the May 2026 ballot.