Ladies and gentlemen…boys and girls… and debate fans from around Congressional District 5 and throughout the land!
The moment you’ve been waiting for the entire election cycle is almost here.
On Oct. 14, U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a first-term member of Congress, will show up and throw down against Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair for the honor of representing our vast and diverse Congressional District 5 on Caaaaaapitol Hill. This verbal cage match will be broadcast live from the KTVZ news station.
In the meantime, let’s introduce our fighters.
In the northwest corner of Congressional District 5, hailing from Oregon City (although originally from Washington, D.C.), Bynum is known for legislation and policy centered on affordable housing and reducing costs related to health care and education. Bynum orates in a direct, rat-a-tat, East-Coast style. A former Oregon Democrat lawmaker, Bynum, 51, said in her first 30-second campaign spot that’s she’s “ripping up the bad” on Capitol Hill, including a rigged system that cuts taxes on billionaires and funds endless wars.
“Give ‘em hell, Janelle!” an off-camera actor hollers to Bynum.
“I always do,” she says, fixing the viewer with a stern grin. She doesn’t bother mentioning Adair.
And in this southeast corner of CD-5, beloved for juniper-dotted ranchland and the Southern Cascade Range, Adair is known for veteran advocacy, backing law enforcement and wildfire preparedness. Adair, who’s originally from Pendleton and traces her Oregon lineage to 1884, spars in the bob-and-weave, circular style made famous by Sarah Palin, one-time vice-presidential candidate and former governor of Alaska. A Republican and 75, Adair says a key congressional goal is rooting out Democrats’ insider trading on Capitol Hill.
Both opponents told the Source they’ve been tirelessly training and campaigning in anticipation of at least one debate before the Nov. 3 election.
To visit the fighters on their road to victory, the Source popped in on Adair at her horse stable outside Sisters. We also visited Bynum during a ribbon cutting for a new, 45-unit affordable housing complex in Bend’s Medical District.
Leeeeeet’s get down and dirty at the greatest showdown in the land — the race for Oregon Congressional District 5!
“Out here a lot“
On a sunny, brisk Labor Day afternoon, Patti Adair strode toward her horse stable, driveway gravel crunching under square-toed boots.
“You’re early,” Adair said, greeting this reporter. “I’m always early, too.”
representative of Oregon U.S. District 5. Incumbent U.S. Rep Janelle Bynum has filled the
seat since January 2025. Credit: Peter Madsen
We intended to discuss the race and Adair’s preparation for the Oct. 14 debate, yet our attention to the matter was scuttled by Pierre, a cream-colored long-hair cat who danced around our ankles, mewling for caresses.
Inside the stable, quarter horses, all a ruddy chestnut color, peeked out of their stall windows, ears atwitch. One by one, Adair greeted the mares, including a timid foal she’d situated within nuzzling distance of her mother’s stall.
“I come out to be with the horses to ground myself,” Adair said, explaining the provenance of each horse’s show name. “I’m out here a lot.”
Adair secured Bobbi Lou, an 8-year-old mare she rode in the Fourth of July Parade, to the crossties. Traces of glitter still clung to Bobbi Lou’s hooves. The mare stomped whenever Adair, engrossed in election talk, paused the grooming session.
We quickly arrived at Bynum’s stance on socialism. Despite recent headlines, Adair told me she’s still confused about the incumbent’s position.
In June, Bynum signed the “Promise to America,” a pledge that renounced socialism in favor of capitalism, angering the more-progressive members of the Multnomah Democrats, the Oregon Journalism Project reported. That faction called for Bynum’s resignation, noting that she’d also voted for the Laken Riley Act in January 2025, which broadened federal immigration authorities’ power. President Trump signed the bill into law later that month.
Concerning for Adair, however, is that Bynum declined to add her name to House Resolution 1490, a Republican-authored diatribe introduced in late August, aimed at the Democratic Socialist of America’s platform. The text includes several inaccuracies and conflates socialism with communism. HR 1490 passed the House on Sept. 1, largely along party lines.
In sharing her concern about Bynum, Adair made the same conflation.
“I know people who moved here from Cuba — I actually had a lot of friends in L.A. who were from communist countries,” Adair said, referring to her years in Calabasas and Malibu, California. “And they don’t want to bring communism back.
“Go to Cuba and the power is shut off a lot. They have old cars. They don’t have the parts. Yes, socialism is different, but there are still problems with socialism. In America, we still have people who can make the American Dream.”
She mentioned the creator of Jonny Pops, a popsicle upstart, as a capitalistic exemplar.
“They developed these popsicles that are amazing and now they’re millionaires,” she said.
Asked whether some socialist ideas might be similar to those in the New Deal, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced to rescue the workforce from the Great Depression, Adair paused. She pivoted to Oregon’s spending $1.4 billion on affordable housing in the past five years, and the attempt at construction of affordable housing on county land, green-lit by Deschutes County Commissioners, now stalled because the projected material and building costs were prohibitively expensive.
“Somebody was telling me there was an affordable housing project somewhere, and they were putting in air conditioning units that were $24,000,” Adair said. “If you and I were building something, we wouldn’t put in a $24,000 unit.”
How about an entry-level $7,000 heat pump, I asked her. (Heat pumps are electric and offer a reverse-cycle air-condition function, as well.)
“Yeah, well. Anyway,” Adair said. “I just really worry about how much money we spend.”
A newish congressional district
Congressional District 5 covers a sweeping, diverse region. It stretches from southeast Multnomah County, south through the counties of Clackamas, Marion and Linn, and finally a slice of Jefferson and much of Deschutes. The district, now entering only its third term after its 2020 re-drafting, is notably purple. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Happy Valley) won the 2022 election with 51.9% of votes, yet lost to Bynum in 2024. (Later tapped by the second Trump Administration as Secretary of Labor, Chavez-DeRemer resigned amid scandal in April.)
According to Vote Hub, Bynum is expected to win this time by a wide margin, carrying an estimated 58.5% of votes. And according to campaign records, Bynum has raised nearly $3.8 million; Adair has raised about $424,000, according to the last reporting period in June.
But in the battle for which party will rule in Congress, every seat counts in this year’s tight midterms. Democrats need to net three seats to take control of the House.
I asked Adair how she can better address constituents’ concerns over Bynum.
Adair rattled through a few points.
First, she says, cutting federal taxes, particularly scrapping taxes on Social Security disbursements — but only people “who have worked” should be entitled to the safety net, she said.
Additionally, during government shutdowns, lawmakers shouldn’t get paid.
And then there’s the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, Adair added, which she calls a mess. She opted out of the program in 2018 when she was elected county commissioner, saving county taxpayers $200,000, she said.
(Adair’s not wrong that PERS is a mess. According to the Oregon Capital Chronicle, public agencies are struggling to figure out how to cover $4 billion in added PERS costs by 2029, for example.)
Then Adair brought up, again, insider trading on Capitol Hill. To be sure, it’s a problem. It’s been estimated that lawmakers, who often review information before it’s made public, have traded $365 million in 2025, according to Common Cause. (Bynum isn’t listed as having traded while in Congress. By January of that year, she divested her interests in the McDonald’s franchises she co-owned before joining Congress.)
“This is not the kind of government our country was formed on,” Adair said. “You’re supposed to be dedicated, devoted, public servants.”
Adair had previously mentioned that this was a symptom of the Democratic Party, yet when prodded, she said that some Republicans are guilty, too. I asked her about reports detailing the estimated $1.2 billion with which the Trump family has enriched itself since the beginning of the second administration.
Adair took a beat.
“Honestly, I don’t know about those specific examples,” she said. “I just know that insider trading is wrong….”
Bobbi Lou interrupted with a sneeze, coating my arm in sooty snot.
Adair then brought the conversation to wildfire mitigation, a topic in which she’s arguably more versed than Bynum. Adair knows the reality of wildfire well. In 2025, the Flat Fire burned within less than a mile of her Sisters ranch home while she and her family responded to a Level 3 evacuation order.
Previously, on Aug. 12, Adair told Central Oregon Daily News that preemption is the best way to mitigate wildfire, and federal funding is critical.
On the broadcast, Adair talked about HR 9827, the bipartisan, bicameral Wildfire Reduction Market Expansion Act introduced in July. The bill would broaden the allowance for commercial harvesting of trees and underbrush under the Clean Air Act. Sponsoring lawmakers include Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR-2) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
Adair noted that Bynum didn’t sign on to that legislation.
“This legislation will really help reduce that biomass in our forests that have been building up for decades,” Adair said, mentioning how 300 mills have closed throughout the state since 1980. “We actually need to do more logging. Trees grow every year.”
Back in her stable, Adair mentioned how more cattle grazing in CD-5 would help winnow ignitable grasses. According to the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Deschutes County ranks 24th in its 2025 ranking of cattle head per county; Clackamas County is 22nd, Linn County is 16th and Marion County is 13th out of 36 counties.
“Cattle are good for taking care of underbrush,” Adair said, segueing to one of her pet projects. “And then there is the matter of juniper. They’re fireworks in their own right.”
I try to keep up with Adair’s rapid leaps in topic, from the drought-inducing qualities of juniper and then back to wildfire.
“If we know we’re going to have lightning strikes in a couple days, you bring in the reinforcements,” Adair said. “If you have to pay for them a day or two to be there — we need them on the scene immediately so our fires don’t keep growing.”
“You sent me to be your fighter“
On Sept. 9, U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum was visiting the farthest, southeastern corner of Congressional District 5: Bend’s Medical District. There, Bynum, along with federal, state and local officials, including Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler and Housing Works Director Lynne McConnell, cut ribbon on the 45-unit affordable housing complex, Nine Peaks. Bynum spoke as well.
on Sept. 9. Three of Bynum’s housing bills were passed into law in July. Credit: Peter Madsen
“My mom always says, ‘Are y’all on vacation?’” Bynum told the crowd of several dozen people. “I’m like, ‘No, mom, we’re in district.”
Bynum spent August in the Central Oregon corner of CD-5, hearing from families, seniors and recent graduates, she said, who told her the same thing: “We need more homes. We need them for less and we need them now.”
Speaking above the din of the nearby construction of Mosaic Medical’s east side expansion, Bynum cast an arm toward Nine Peaks.
“And so today, I am proud to stand here and confidently say that we are doing the work and answering the call.”
She mentioned the cranes, the workers, the hammers, nails and wood.
“That is the dignity that I believe all residents of CD-5 and all residents of this entire country deserve,” Bynum said. “These homes today — beautiful, proud, warm, comforting, light-filling homes — they’re homes that will provide people with a sense of community, belonging, security and a place where they can put down roots. They can make memories.”
In July, three of Bynum’s bipartisan housing bills were signed into law: the Accelerating Home Building Act, the Appraisal Industry Improvement Act and the Incentivizing Local Solutions to Homelessness Act. Despite the bicameral collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, President Trump refused to sign the bills; they were automatically passed into law on July 11 under Article I of the Constitution.
Housing bills like those have a direct impact on affordable housing in CD-5. Housing Works, the region’s housing authority that builds much of the area’s affordable housing, gets about 43% of its dollars from federal funds.
“The House and the Senate came together to finally recognize that the United States housing laws — the money, the land, the infrastructure — all needed an update and Americans deserve that. These laws are going to cut a lot of red tape,” she said.
After the event’s speaking portion, Bynum huddled in a stairwell to discuss her Oct. 14 debate with Adair. She wasn’t fazed by the notion of sparring with the outgoing Deschutes County commissioner. Her debate preparation, she told the Source, centers on her conversations with constituents.
“I talk to the people,” Bynum said. “I try to make sure I’m grounded in their issues because, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m their fighter. They send me into the fight full of information, full with things that they love about their community, things that need improvements. I think given the current political climate, you have to be succinct, because people are not here for the B.S.”
I mentioned Adair’s accusation of rampant insider-trading among Democrat lawmakers.
“If there’s anybody who has a front-row seat to corruption, it would be my Republican colleagues that haven’t checked Donald Trump and his family and the oligarchs who run within his orbit,” Bynum said. “And that’s something else people have been saying: ‘Corruption is an issue and we need to stand up against it.’”
Bynum added that her work isn’t partisan: “It’s about working families and it’s about creating a fair shot for every last one of them, regardless of their political affiliation or even mine.”
With that, Bynum’s aides whisked her to the next planned event. There were more media interviews to field, more constituents to meet.
The Source had more questions, particularly Bynum’s views on wildfire mitigation. Yet her team wasn’t able to coordinate an interview before press time.
While Bynum didn’t directly discuss Adair in our brief conversation, something with which she closed her Nine Peaks speaking engagement may offer a clue.
“You sent me to Congress to be your fighter,” Bynum told the Sept. 9 crowd. “You don’t send a skinny fighter into the fight. You send them fattened up,” she said, clapping her cheeks while grinning broadly. The crowd broke out in laughter and applause. “Keep doing more projects like [Nine Peaks], and I will brag on you in the halls of Congress because Bend and C-D 5 are doing it right.”
This article appears in the Source September 17, 2026.
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