Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an attorney from Terrebonne, defeated incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader in the 5th Congressional District. (Campaign photo)
Seven-term moderate Kurt Schrader’s congressional career will end in January after a primary election loss to central Oregon attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner.
The final margins might change as Clackamas County, Schrader’s home, continues processing almost 35,000 damaged ballots, but McLeod-Skinner received almost 57% of the votes counted in the 5th Congressional District, which spans Portland to Bend. A printing issue that forced Clackamas County to copy two-thirds of its ballots by hand has delayed results by more than a week.
McLeod-Skinner tweeted that she was “honored” to be nominated shortly after the Associated Press called her race Friday morning.
“From Sellwood to Sunriver, Oregonians never stopped believing we can protect our families, our climate and our civil rights,” she said. “Oregonians – this is your victory.”
McLeod-Skinner will face Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the mayor of Happy Valley and winner of a five-way Republican primary. The race will be a close one in the fall: forecasters at the Cook Political Report classified it as a “tossup” and forecasters at CQ Roll Call moved it from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic” after the primary.
The National Republican Congressional Committee views the 5th District as a pickup opportunity, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent the primary season campaigning for Schrader and attacking McLeod-Skinner.
Schrader significantly outraised and outspent McLeod-Skinner. He collected nearly $2.3 million since January 2021 and spent almost $3.5 million, including reserves from previous campaign cycles. McLeod-Skinner raised a more modest $693,000 and spent $579,000.
-Julia Shumway, Oregon Capital Chronicle
