Rick Dancer (born June 29, 1959) is an American journalist and politician in the state of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

. Born in the city of Hillsboro, he was a longtime anchor for KEZI television in

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

. Among his other activities as anchor, he covered the

Thurston High School shooting The Thurston High School shooting occurred on May 21, 1998, at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. 15-year-old freshman student Kipland Kinkel, who had been scheduled to appear at an expulsion hearing the day prior, murdered his parent ...

. He later left broadcasting to run as a Republican for

Oregon Secretary of State The secretary of state of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in line of succession to the governor. The duties of the office are auditor of public accounts, c ...

, losing in the general election to Democrat

Kate Brown Katherine Brown (born June 21, 1960) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 38th governor of Oregon since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms as the state representative from the 13th district of the O ...

in 2008.

Early life

Rick Dancer was born on June 29, 1959, to Roy and Betty Dancer in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies ...

. He grew up there with three sisters and lived in Hillsboro for his first 24 years, graduating from Hillsboro High School in 1977. In high school he worked for the local Copeland Lumber store before attending college at

Pacific University Pacific University is a private university in Forest Grove, Oregon. Founded in 1849 as the Tualatin Academy, the original Forest Grove campus is west of Portland. The university maintains three other campuses in Eugene, Hillsboro, and Wood ...

in neighboring Forest Grove. Dancer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Pacific in 1983. In Hillsboro, he married Kathy at the United Methodist Church that same year, and they had two sons, Jess and Jake.

Television

After college Dancer moved to the southern

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

in 1985 and was a reporter in Coquille and

Coos Bay Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abo ...

KCBY KVAL-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Eugene, Oregon, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate KMTR (channel 16) under a shared services ag ...

. Dancer then moved to

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

, in 1987 and worked as a television reporter for

KVAL-TV KVAL-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Eugene, Oregon, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to dual NBC/ CW+ affiliate KMTR (channel 16) under a shared services agr ...

. After a few years he moved to KEZI in 1989, the ABC affiliate in Eugene and continued as a reporter until becoming an anchor a year later. In 1998, he was one of the first reporters to arrive at

Thurston High School Thurston High School is a public high school located in the Thurston area of Springfield, Oregon, United States. Academics In 2008, 80% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma. Of 338 students, 271 graduated, 30 dropped out, 11 re ...

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

after the shooting spree by

Kip Kinkel The Thurston High School shooting occurred on May 21, 1998, at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon. 15-year-old freshman student Kipland Kinkel, who had been scheduled to appear at an expulsion hearing the day prior, murdered his paren ...

. While covering the story he started to cry while on camera, which angered him, but led to additional interviews with students as they felt he cared about the students. In February 2008, he announced he was leaving KEZI in order to run for public office.

Political career

The day after leaving television, he official started his campaign for

as a Republican. He won the primary unopposed and then faced Democratic state senator

in the fall election. His campaign focused on advocating for converting the Secretary of State position into a non-partisan position, and also supported Ballot Measure 65 that would have created an open primary system. He ran on the premise of being an outsider having never been in office before, while Brown touted her experience in public office. Dancer raised around $365,000 in his campaign through late October, compared to around $750,000 for Brown. The biggest of his contributions came from timber companies. Dancer pulled within six percentage points in polling in late October. Brown won the November general election defeating Dancer and Pacific Green Party candidate Seth Woolley. Dancer garnered 785,740 votes compared to 873,968 for Brown. Dancer was mentioned as a possible candidate to run for the Republican nomination for

Governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. te ...

in 2010. Dancer is part of a group of filmmakers who began production in 2010 on a documentary film about former U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield.Mapes, Jeff.

References

External links

Who is Rick Dancer?
– ''

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history ''Will ...

''
Christian journalists fear public may behold a bias
– ''

The Register-Guard ''The Register-Guard'' is a daily newspaper in the northwestern United States, published in Eugene, Oregon. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the ''Eugene Daily Guard'' and the ''Morning Register''. The paper serves the Eugene- ...

''
This Just In: I'm Running for Office
– FOX News

–

KATU KATU (channel 2) is a television station in Portland, Oregon, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside La Grande–licensed Univision affiliate KUNP (channel 16). Both stations share studios on N ...

Nevada millionaire a major donor to Dancer campaign
–

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dancer, Rick 1959 births American television news anchors Politicians from Eugene, Oregon Politicians from Hillsboro, Oregon Living people Pacific University alumni Oregon Republicans Hillsboro High School (Oregon) alumni Television personalities from Oregon