TILLAMOOK COUNTY PIONEER’S QUESTIONS FOR THE CANDIDATES PRIMARY ELECTION, MAY 19, 2026: STATE REPRESENTATIVE, 32nd DISTRICT, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES

It’s election time – a Primary Election with several important positions being decided. Here’s the Tillamook County Pioneer”s “Questions for the Candidates.” This provides our communities with our expanded election coverage and an introduction to the candidates with an unbiased view to compare the candidates side-by-side on important issues. All candidates were provided with the same questions; the questions were provided by a wide variety of Tillamook County residents. If you have other “questions for the candidates” – please forward them to editor@tillamookcountypioneer.net.

There are three Republican candidates for State Representative, House District 32: Adam Dean, Christian Honl and Max Sherman

Adam Dean

Why should we vote for you? Give us your 2-minute “elevator speech” (about 250–300 words).

Hi, I’m Adam Dean, a 15-year law enforcement veteran who’s spent my career protecting families. I’m also a small business owner running a local convenience store and RV park, where I deal with payroll, regulations, and taxes that are crushing our coastal neighbors. I’m a Linfield College graduate with a BS in Finance, but more importantly, I’m a proud resident of Oregon’s northern coast who has never held political office.

Portland politicians have been imposing their agendas on rural Oregon for too long, holding our communities back with overregulation, high taxes, and soft-on-crime policies that spike crime and demoralize our law enforcement. I’ve stood between danger and families my whole career. Now I’m running to protect your way of life — from Portland policies, from career politicians, and from anyone who thinks rural Oregon doesn’t matter.

As your State Representative, I’ll fight for law and order by pushing mandatory minimums for violent and repeat offenders and fully funding our police. I’ll deliver real economic relief with tax cuts for new businesses, better coastal infrastructure, and workforce development that actually works for Tillamook — not Portland. I’m pro-life, pro-family, and pro-coast: defending parental rights in education, protecting the unborn, holding schools accountable to the basics, and expanding childcare so young families can stay here.

I’ve volunteered with Special Olympics, served on the Board of the Yamhill County Gospel Rescue Mission, and participated in Shop with a Cop and the Law Enforcement Torch Run. My commitment to this community doesn’t end when the shift does.

I don’t just protect — I deliver. With strength and heart, I’ll bring Republican control back to HD 32 and put coastal Oregon first. Vote Adam Dean in May. Let’s build a stronger coast together.

What are the top 5 most important issues facing Tillamook County?

Portland-imposed policies that hold rural Oregon back and don’t fit small business or farms.
High taxes and overregulation crushing small businesses, farmers, and entrepreneurs.
Public safety and crime, including the homeless situation and policies that demoralize law enforcement.
Economic stagnation, including lack of good jobs, pay, and tailored workforce development for the coast.
Challenges retaining young families, tied to education quality, childcare access, and overall family support.

How would you solve these issues?

Portland policies & rural voice: Serve as a strong, independent voice for the coast in Salem, blocking one-size-fits-all agendas from urban areas and prioritizing local needs.
Taxes and regulation: Fight for tax relief for new and existing businesses to reduce the burden and encourage growth.
Public safety: Implement mandatory minimum sentences for violent and repeat offenders, fully fund law enforcement, and reject policies that weaken law enforcement or increase crime.
Economy and jobs: Advocate for improved coastal infrastructure and workforce development/vocational programs designed specifically for Tillamook, Clatsop, and Columbia counties.
Family retention: Defend parental rights in education, encourage schools to focus on core subjects (reading, writing, math), protect the unborn, and expand access to childcare to help young families stay and thrive on the coast.

Tell us what the best things are about Tillamook County.

Tillamook County is a special community with a unique way of life worth protecting — strong families, local businesses, outdoor heritage, and tight-knit communities that deserve to thrive without interference from distant urban agendas. Tillamook County is a place where people work hard, raise families, and build real community. And their cheese is amazing!

We are experiencing the erosion of morals and trust in our society. What are your guiding morals?

My guiding morals are honesty and integrity which are rooted in frontline conservative values: protecting families, standing up for law and order, serving the community, and putting rural Oregon first. This is shown through my 15 years confronting criminals as a police officer, my ongoing community service (Special Olympics, church volunteering, Gospel Rescue Mission board), and my commitment to pro-life, pro-family, and pro-coast principles.

Why should citizens trust you, and how would you rebuild trust in government?

Citizens should trust me because I have a proven record of showing up when it matters — 15 years protecting families in law enforcement and running a small business while navigating real-world regulations. I am not a career politician. To rebuild trust, I will do what I say I’m going to do.

How do you think you can make a difference?

By bringing a straight-talking, frontline perspective as a law enforcement veteran and small business owner to Salem. I can make a difference by protecting the coast from harmful policies, delivering tax relief and economic opportunity, strengthening public safety, and championing the rural values that matter most to Tillamook and the district.

Speaking of differences, government and politics are more divided than ever, how will you work across the aisle, with others that have differing views?

No question, this will be a challenge since some of the bills brought by the Democrats are so extreme, it makes it hard to negotiate. I have no problem working with others who have differing views until it is detrimental to the folks in my district.

What are your three favorite books?

The Bible, Start with Why, Possum come a knockin’ (loved reading it to my kids and now my grandkids)

What are your hobbies and interests?

Spending time with family, outdoor activities, hunting, and volunteering at church.

Tell us about a significant time in your life and how it impacted your life.

Becoming a small business owner in 2020 really opened my eyes as to how much state polices hurt small businesses. It seems every year fees increase or there are new licenses or fees required just to conduct business as normal.

Please write a haiku about Spring.

Coastal winds awaken

Rain gives way to blooming green

Hope on the strong shore

(Full disclosure: AI helped with this, I’m not a poet.)

Christian Honl

Why should we vote for you? Give us your 2 minute “elevator speech” – about 250 to 300 words.

I’m Christian Honl, and I’m running for State Representative in House District 32 because the North Coast deserves a fighter, not a politician.

I’m a lifelong North Coast resident—born and raised in Astoria, where I attended Astoria High School. My roots here run deep: my brothers work in commercial fishing and logging, the industries that define this region. When I talk about standing up for our working families, I’m not reading talking points. I’m talking about my neighbors, my friends, and my own family.

I earned a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington and spent 30 years at Intel as Director of Engineering and Marketing for CPU Products. I led teams of 100 or more engineers with multi-million dollar operating budgets inside a multi-billion-dollar business. In that world, results matter and you’re accountable for them. I learned how to build consensus, cut through bureaucracy, and keep teams focused on outcomes. Salem could use a lot more of that.

I came home to care for my family and build a small business. Today I serve on the Clatsop Care Center Health District Board, and has been Chair of the Oregon Republican Party’s Congressional District 1. I’m an unapologetically conservative Republican who has never wavered on life, on the Second Amendment, or on the constitutional principles that define our party. When I get to Salem, there will be no surprises.

I’m running because working families on the North Coast are being squeezed by higher taxes, neglected roads, and regulations written by people who have never set foot on a fishing boat or a logging road. They need someone to break through the brick walls in Salem, and I’m ready to fight every day for the people of Tillamook, Clatsop, and Columbia counties.

What are the top 5 most important issues facing Tillamook County?

Infrastructure and the gas tax betrayal: Highways 6 and 26 are Tillamook County’s lifelines, and they have been neglected for years while Salem politicians found money for everything else. Then our own representative cast the deciding vote on a $4.3 billion transportation package that raised gas and payroll taxes on North Coast families. He called it “bipartisan”—we call it a betrayal.

Public safety: Oregon’s experiment with soft-on-crime policies has made our towns less safe. Law enforcement, fire, and EMS need to be fully funded, especially during summer tourism season when visitors flood the coast but local resources stay flat. Catch-and-release crime policy and permanent homeless camps near senior centers, schools, and Main Street businesses have to end.

Protecting our working families: Our fishing, logging, farming, and dairy families are being regulated out of existence by bureaucrats in Salem and Portland who have never set foot on a fishing boat or run a chainsaw. I’ll be their voice at the table and push back hard on the regulatory overreach killing the industries that built this region.

Housing affordability: Young families can’t afford to stay on the coast. Government red tape and unfunded mandates from Salem are driving up the cost of every new home we try to build. We need fewer regulations, not more.

Healthcare access for seniors and rural residents: Our aging population depends on local facilities, and too many coastal residents are already driving long distances for basic care. We have to protect what we have and recruit more providers to the North Coast.

How would you solve these issues?

On infrastructure: use the dollars we’re already paying. Oregon doesn’t have a revenue problem; it has a priorities problem. Join me in voting NO on Measure 120 to repeal that tax hike. Then we fix Highways 6 and 26 and our local bridges with the money that’s already there, and we make ODOT accountable for every dollar.

On public safety: I’ll fight to fully fund law enforcement and first responders and replace the revolving door of catch-and-release with real accountability and real drug treatment. I recently testified in Salem in favor of HB 4148, which keeps more of our existing lodging tax dollars local for first responders during tourism season. That bill passed. That’s the kind of practical, results-driven work I’ll keep doing in the House.

On our livelihoods: I’ll push back hard against Portland’s regulatory overreach and fight for common-sense rules that let our fishing, logging, farming, and dairy families actually earn a living.

On housing: cut the permitting and regulatory costs that make it so expensive to build on the coast, and reject the unfunded mandates Salem keeps sending our way.

On healthcare: draw on my experience on the Clatsop Care Center Health District Board to advocate for policies that keep local care accountable, accessible, and affordable for our seniors and rural residents.

Tell us what the best things are about Tillamook County.

The people. Tillamook County is a place where neighbors still show up for each other, where the fishing boats go out before dawn, and where families have worked the land and the water for generations. It’s world-famous for a reason: the cheese, the coast, and the forest. But what makes it truly special is that it’s still a community where hard work and honesty matter. My family has deep roots on the North Coast, and the character of this place is exactly why I came home and exactly why I’m running.

We are experiencing the erosion of morals and trust in our society. What are your guiding morals?

Honesty, accountability, and service.

I learned these values at home. My father was a well-respected doctor in Astoria who was drafted into Vietnam and came home with a traumatic brain injury that ended his medical practice. Even after that, the community took care of our family. People showed up at our door with buckets of fish and cases of soda stacked as tall as I was, paying back the care he had given them. That taught me you owe something to the people around you, and you pay it back through honest work and genuine service.

I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in keeping your word. I believe in standing up for what’s right even when it’s unpopular. Those values guided me through three decades in the private sector, through my service on the Clatsop Care Center Health District Board, and through my work as Chair of the Oregon Republican Party’s Congressional District 1. They’ll guide me in the State House.

Why should citizens trust you, and how would you rebuild trust in government?

Trust is earned, and you earn it by doing what you said you would do. I have never switched parties to try to hide from accountability to voters. I have never told voters one thing and done the opposite. I’m a consistent, common-sense conservative, and what you see on the campaign trail is what you’ll get in the legislature.

At Intel, I managed teams and budgets where results were measured and accountability was real. I’ll bring that same standard to the House: clear goals, open communication, and honest reporting back to the people of this district. If I make a promise, I’ll keep it. If I can’t do something, I’ll say so. That’s how you rebuild trust, one honest conversation at a time.

How do you think you can make a difference?

I spent three decades learning and practicing cutting across a big organization and getting things done: building relationships, holding teams accountable, and finding solutions when the bureaucracy says “no.” That’s exactly the skill set the North Coast needs in Salem.

I’m not running for a political career. I’m running because I owe this community, and I have the experience to deliver results.

Speaking of differences, government and politics are more divided than ever, how will you work across the aisle, with others that have differing views?

I built a career managing teams of more than 100 people from every background and perspective you can imagine. At a global company like Intel, you don’t get results by refusing to talk to people who disagree with you. You get results by building real relationships, finding common ground, and focusing on shared goals. I’ll bring that same approach to Salem.

I won’t compromise on the core principles that define my campaign: protecting life, defending constitutional rights, and fighting for North Coast working families. But good policy often comes from good-faith negotiation, and I’m always willing to sit down with anyone who sincerely wants to solve problems for Oregonians. I’ll judge every bill on its merits, not on who introduced it.

What are your three favorite books?

The Lord of the Rings series, the Thrawn Star Wars trilogy, and the Chronicles of Narnia series.

What are your hobbies and interests?

Video games, Legos, and cooking.

Tell us about a significant time in your life and how it impacted your life.

As I mentioned already, my father was a well-respected doctor in Astoria who was drafted into Vietnam and returned with a traumatic brain injury. That was the end of his medical practice. I was young, but I remember the community rallying around our family. People would leave buckets of fish and cases of soda stacked as tall as I was on our porch, paying back the care my dad had given them. It was the North Coast at its best: people taking care of their own.

That experience shaped everything about who I am. It taught me that communities are built on mutual obligation—that when people are good to you, you find a way to be good to them. It’s why I came home after my career at Intel. It’s why I serve on the Clatsop Care Center Health District Board. And it’s why I’m running for this seat. The community took care of us. Now it’s my turn to fight for them.

Please write a haiku about Spring.

bay light lingers soft

dories blare as fog descends

gulls soar home to roost

Any additional comments?

Thank you for reading! If you’d like to learn more about my campaign, visit VoteHonl.com or reach out directly. I’m happy to sit down with anyone who wants to talk about the future of the North Coast.

Max Sherman

Why should we vote for you?

I have dedicated my life to education, agriculture, and community service. For 35 years, I taught high school agriculture, welding, and biology. Beyond the classroom, I have been deeply involved in leadership and service through numerous organizations and have worked with legislators and testified on issues related to agriculture, natural resource industries, and education for nearly 40 years.

My deep roots in Oregon’s agricultural community keep me grounded in the realities facing working families and small businesses. In this race, I bring a hands-on, problem-solving approach to leadership—practical, honest, and focused on helping Oregon thrive. I am committed to restoring trust and common sense to Oregon’s leadership.

The backbone of our district’s economy—family farms, fisheries, timber, and coastal tourism—is under pressure from regulation, taxation, and global competition. I will be a strong advocate in Salem for policies that support sustainable natural resource industries, protect jobs, and reduce burdensome regulations that do not enhance growth and productivity.

Oregon families are working harder than ever, yet too many are struggling with rising bills, growing fees, unaffordable housing, and increasing healthcare costs. I will fight for tax relief for working households, encourage practical housing solutions, and ensure government supports families rather than adding to their burden.

What are the top 5 most important issues facing Tillamook County?

Rising cost of living and increasing taxes and fees

Burdensome regulations impacting families and businesses

A school system that is failing our kids

Failing roads and infrastructure

Restoring trust in elected leadership

How would you solve these issues?

If elected, my priorities will be clear: restoring trust in government, strengthening our local economy, and supporting public safety and education. This includes fully funding law enforcement, ensuring our schools return to teaching core skills, and expanding Career and Technical Education programs.

I will work to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, improve accountability in state agencies, and support policies that strengthen agriculture, forestry, fishing, and small businesses. I will advocate for responsible transportation funding by improving oversight and efficiency before asking taxpayers for more. We need practical solutions that lower costs and help our communities thrive.

Tell us what the best things are about Tillamook County.

The people and lifelong friendships.

The incredible generosity of our community, as seen through the Charity Drive, YMCA support, the Junior Livestock Auction, and many civic organizations.

Our abundant natural resources.

What are your guiding morals?

My life has been shaped by my faith, strong family values, and a lifetime in agriculture and natural resources. I was raised to work hard, keep my word, help those in need, and treat others as I would want to be treated.

Why should citizens trust you, and how would you rebuild trust in government?

My faith and values guide me in all I do. I believe in being honest and transparent, following through on commitments, respecting others, and acknowledging mistakes when they occur. Trust is built through consistent actions, not just words.

How do you think you can make a difference?

I have been involved in community issues my entire life and understand the challenges facing the North Coast. I show up, listen, ask questions, and work toward solutions. I have strong relationships across the community and have taught two generations of students who are now leaders and contributors in our region. These connections help me identify real issues and bring practical solutions to Salem.

How will you work across the aisle?

Effective leadership starts with listening. I have worked with many groups and organizations and understand the importance of respectful dialogue. I take time to research and analyze issues and aim to offer thoughtful, fact-based solutions that can build consensus and move policy forward.

What are your three favorite books?

The Bible

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

The Last Gentleman-of-War: The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden

What are your hobbies and interests?

Gardening, raising chickens and turkeys, food preservation, and sharing those skills with others. I also donate produce and poultry to local food banks and churches, barbecue for community events, enjoy square dancing, walking on the beach, hiking to waterfalls with my wife, and studying air and naval history.

Tell us about a significant time in your life.

One of the most significant moments in my life was my wedding day with Lynda, when we committed our lives to each other in faith. We have built a life together with three wonderful children and eight amazing grandchildren. Her love, support, and encouragement have been central to everything I have done, both personally and professionally. Our shared faith and values are reflected in our family, and we feel truly blessed.