Things have been interesting since the last U.S. Census, after which, Oregon got a new seat in Congress. Bend, Redmond and a good portion of the southeast Portland suburbs got lumped together as the newly drawn Oregon Congressional District 5 – a strange marriage of rural, urban and suburban voters stretching across one great divide called the Cascade Range. The longtime representative for CD5, Kurt Schrader, got knocked out in the primary by fellow Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner. While our editorial board welcomed that change, favoring the independent-minded local attorney over the corporate Democrat, looking back, that should have signaled to the Democratic party machine that things could get weird in a district that’s still rated as leaning Democratic, according to the Cook Political Report’s rankings.
Against predictions, Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer took the seat, not by winning in the two most populated counties in the district, but by picking up the lion’s share of the votes in the more rural parts of CD5. Since then, Chavez-Deremer has been far from present in Bend or Redmond, to the point that some locals have been holding “empty chair town halls” to highlight her absence and apparent lack of investment in the needs of voters on this side of the mountains. This was one of the greatest fears for eastside voters in the district.
This time around, Chavez-Deremer is running to retain her seat, with no other Republicans having yet filed to run for the election. Thus far, she’s outraised the three leading Democrats combined – Janelle Bynum, McLeod-Skinner and Lynn Peterson, according to Federal Elections Commission data. (Two other Democrats and a non-affiliated party candidate have also filed for the seat with the FEC.)
What’s pretty clear: The primary for the Democratic candidates in this race is going to be a dogfight. Each of the top-raising candidates – Bynum, McLeod-Skinner and Peterson – have experience and strong backgrounds, and each hold similar values. Who voters will ultimately select in the primary is anybody’s guess, but one thing is clear: Democrats on the whole cannot sleep on this race as they did last time around.
Democrats need to ponder whether it was the ire that remained after Schrader, the longtime Democrat, lost the primary and through a temper tantrum; whether it was a measure of overconfidence about Democrats’ strength in Deschutes and Clackamas counties; or whether it was a dismissal of Chavez-Deremer’s chops as a candidate that saw them losing this seat. With all of the dysfunction in the House these past weeks, a spotlight has been shown on why these positions are so important for national leadership. Voters should be paying much more attention to this race and its lopsided campaign spending.
The 2024 campaign season is going to include a lot of hoopla over who’s running for president, and it’s sure to bring plenty of voters to the ballot box this time around. No one yet knows who’s going to win the presidential race, but if the past several election cycles have been any indication, there’s a very good chance that the makeup of the House, and Senate, for that matter, will impact how this country tackles climate change, our transition to cleaner energy, how we manage our public lands, how we treat migrants and immigrants, how we approach Medicare and Medicaid and health care and so much more.
Democrats seemed to be sleeping on the Oregon Congressional District 5 race last time around. If candidate financial reports are any indication, they’re doing it again.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 2, 2023.
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I’m not sure McLeod-Skinner running again is the answer for Democrats. I just don’t see her inspiring a turnout that will lead to her winning the seat. She has to do better in DC that’s for sure!
I look to the Source for everything but political commentary. Everywhere in our media we are littered with politics. Please allow us to enjoy your Weekly events/entertainment/restaurants/etc. without POLITICS!
Hey Thomas – In these times of shrinking news budgets and editorial opinions that around these parts are few and far between (and at other local outlets, often watered-down opinions at that), our editorial board still believes that the work we do communicating regularly with our local governments and other community organizations gives us a unique perspective on the place we live. From that perspective, we believe we owe it to our readers to, on one page of the paper, tell you plainly what we think about issues that matter to your lives. If reading our take on city, county and state matters is not what you’re here for, don’t worry — we’ll keep bringing you plenty of those other things you like, too. Thanks for reading!
Janelle Bynum will be an excellent replacement to Rep LCD! The Source did JMS a solid by not mentioning her reported bullying of staff.
I’ve voted for McLeod-Skinner in the past but her track record in general elections is 100% failure. I thought her 2022 campaign was a disaster. She allowed the other campaign to define her as a California carpetbagger, even though Chavez-Deremer was born, raised, and educated in California. ‘will be looking at someone else in the primary.