With a little more than a year to go before the next general election, Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer once again led all other Oregon congressional candidates in fundraising.
Chavez-DeRemer, who represents the competitive 5th Congressional District, brought in more than $620,000 for her reelection campaign in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 – more than the combined totals for the three Democrats vying for the chance to face her in 2024. She has nearly $1.3 million available in cash to spend on her campaign.
The 5th District, which stretches from Bend to Portland’s eastern suburbs and includes portions of Marion County, is the state’s most competitive. Chavez-DeRemer won by about 7,000 out of 350,000 votes in 2022, it voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and Democrats are intent on taking it back. Republicans, meanwhile, are eying pickup opportunities in the 4th and 6th Congressional districts, represented by freshman Democrats Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas.
Fundraising in the Democratic primary for the 5th District highlights a tight race between state Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, and 2022 candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner, with Metro Council President Lynn Peterson playing catchup.
Bynum raised almost $188,000 and ended the quarter with almost $218,000 cash on hand. McLeod-Skinner raised about $257,000 and ended with $155,000. Peterson collected almost $72,000 and has just $43,000 available.
Chavez-DeRemer’s largest donor was former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s joint fundraising committee, Protect the House 2024, which gave her nearly $100,000 near the end of the quarter and has given her close to $250,000 so far this year. Bynum and McLeod-Skinner primarily received contributions from individuals, though the Congressional Black Caucus gave to Bynum and the Equality PAC, which tries to elect LGBTQ representatives, gave to McLeod-Skinner.
The Democratic primary winner is expected to also receive national support. At the moment, independent political analysts rate the race as a toss-up.
Hoyle doesn’t yet have an opponent in the 4th District, which includes Eugene and the southern coast. Republican state Sen. Art Robinson and retired Army National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos have waged unsuccessful campaigns for the past 14 years, with Skarlatos losing to Hoyle last year and former U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio in 2020 and Robinson losing to DeFazio from 2010 to 2018.
She raised a little more than $254,000 for her campaign, including $5,000 contributions from the Lake Oswego-based transportation manufacturer Greenbrier Companies and unions representing painters, machinists, bricklayers, engineers, teachers and laborers.
Mike Erickson, a businessman who lost to Salinas in the 6th District in 2022, has indicated he intends to run again but has not yet filed paperwork with the state or Federal Elections Commission. Former appointed state legislator Denyc Boles is so far the only official Republican candidate running against Salinas.
Salinas raised more than $424,000 this quarter, adding to her $758,000 warchest. Boles collected a comparatively anemic $60,000 and has $45,000 cash on hand.
As the 2024 election draws closer, candidate contributions and spending will increase – as will outside spending by groups trying to help or hurt preferred candidates. Already this fall, the Washington, D.C.-based Congressional Integrity Project has run ads targeting Chavez-DeRemer and 17 other Republicans in districts Biden won over an impeachment inquiry into Biden, while the American Action Network ran ads praising Chavez-DeRemer and 15 other Republicans who voted for a measure to avert a government shutdown that would have resulted from fellow Republicans balking at a resolution to keep the government funded.
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Julia Shumway is deputy editor of Oregon Capital Chronicle and has reported on government and politics in Iowa and Nebraska, spent time at the Bend Bulletin and most recently was a legislative reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times in Phoenix. An award-winning journalist, Julia most recently reported on the tangled efforts to audit the presidential results in Arizona.
