Don’t let him get close!
Former UFC light heavyweight Chael Sonnen says he plans on running for governor of Oregon at some point, he announced during a Thursday appearance on the PBD Podcast.
“From the time I was a little kid I wanted to be governor of Oregon. And I will be the governor of Oregon,” Sonnen said.
“You’re thinking about running, like here soon, like in the next couple of years?” podcast host Patrick Bet-David asked him.
“Yes, yes. I don’t know that I’m going to, but yes I’m looking at that right now,” Sonnen replied
Sonnen will likely run as a Republican, having previously described himself as a huge fan of former President Donald Trump.
He also explained that, despite Oregon‘s reputation as a blue state, outside of Portland it’s actually heavily Republican.
The PBD Podcast displays a political map of Oregon during an interview with former UFC champion Chael Sonnen. 3/7/2024. Screenshot/YouTube/PBD Podcast
“Why we’re the second bluest state in the nation? It’s just one county, it’s Multnomah County and it’s Portland,” Sonnen explained. “And the Republicans come in every single cycle and they try to appease the people in Multnomah County, they try to win them over every time. I don’t know why they do that. I will annex Multnomah County. I will put it on Zillow and sell it to the state of Washington,” Sonnen said (maybe) jokingly. (RELATED: Greatest Living Boxer To Fight Jake Paul)
He also rolled out some interesting policy proposals, including deputizing biker gangs to deal with crime.
“I will deputize the Gypsy Jokers and the Mongols. I will put a Harley Davidson on every block. We will end crime that day, and I am not joking about that,” Sonnen told PBD. “They’re talking about school shootings? ‘Oh what are we gonna do? We gotta bring in all this money, we gotta have resource officers.’ I will deputize some good ol’ boys that I know, we will make this go away real fast.”
Absolute Legend @ChaelSonnen on @VivekGRamaswamy + Bonus Rant on How He’d Fix Oregon as its Next Governor. pic.twitter.com/YpqOUSDNvW
— DV (@DV2O24) March 7, 2024
Hell to the yes please. Imagine Chael Sonnen riding up on a Harley with a squad of bikers to a soy circle in an autonomous socialist commune like, “Nope, sorry, can’t do open-air heroin here. You’ll have to go to Seattle for that now.”
Sonnen was mildly noncommittal about WHEN he will be declaring a run, but seemed pretty set on doing it at some point.
Oregon’s last gubernatorial election was in 2022, when Republican Christine Drazan came within about 3.5 percent of beating Democrat Tina Kotek, who has serious “lesbian female pastor” energy (which makes sense, considering that she’s actually a lesbian and has a religious studies degree). Kotek will be up for reelection in 2026, offering Sonnen a chance to strike.
All I can say is it can’t come a moment too soon. Sonnen might be Oregon’s last hope.