Nike co-founder Phil Knight is digging deep to support two causes on this November's ballot.

AP File Photo

Phil Knight.

Though he is Oregon's wealthiest man, Knight has never been a marquee donor to in-state political causes or candidates.

But this week, the campaign backing an almost 85 cent rise in the state's cigarette tax to expand children's health care coverage reported that Knight made a $100,000 donation to support Measure 50.

That comes on the heels of news late last week that Knight gave $100,000 to supporters of the other statewide ballot measure, Measure 49, which would scale back a property rights law approved by voters in 2004.

Knight is not the biggest donor to either campaign. The Nature Conservancy of Oregon and Yamhill County winemaker Eric Lemelson have each given over $1 million to the Yes on 49 campaign, while the American Cancer Society and Providence Health System have each given $200,000 to backers of Measure 50.

The biggest spenders in this November's election are tobacco companies Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, which oppose the tobacco tax hike. Together, the two companies have poured about $10 million into their opposition campaign.

Timber companies are among the largest donors to those who are opposing Measure 49, including $200,000 from Stimson Lumber and $163,500 from Seneca Jones Timber Company.

Altogether, more than $18 million has been raised to oppose or support the two measures. That's more than was raised in 2006, when there were 10 measures on the Oregon ballot, according to Democracy Reform Oregon, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign spending.