'Not the old Oregon's 5th': McLeod-Skinner re-running against Chavez-DeRemer
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner is running for Oregon's 5th Congressional District in hopes of ousting Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who she faced in a close race for the same seat in 2022.
During the 2022 mid-term election, Chavez-DeRemer secured the seat with 51% of the vote in the newly drawn district.
“Next year will be different," McLeod-Skinner told KOIN 6 News. "The current representative now has a record and has been enabling an extremist agenda in Congress. She’s failing to protect our rights or address the needs of Oregonians so; we need to replace her and I’m really the best position person to do that."
“This is not the old Oregon’s 5th,” she furthered. "It’s Oregon’s only purple congressional district very split politically. Last year, in a very tough year for Democrats, I came very close."
“I’ve got a strong base throughout the district. I only have a small gap to make up and I made the adjustments necessary to fill that gap,” McCleod-Skinner said. “The bottom line is Oregonians are facing serious challenges – working people; seniors; veterans; small business owners, including small family farmers are facing a lot of challenges from housing and health care and climate impacts.”
The 5th District-hopeful added, "we don’t have enough focus and we don’t have enough support to build more housing,” McLeod-Skinner said. “But there are a lot of solutions that the current representative is not addressing and she’s promoting an extremist agenda which does not represent Oregonians.”
McLeod-Skinner says this time around, her campaign is armed with a stronger team and stronger fundraising, adding she will have "much more aggressive responses in attack ads. That was an area where I was exercising Oregon nice and I’m really ready to go to the mat for Oregonians.”
McLeod-Skinner said she's against Chavez-DeRemer's track record of restricting abortion access, cutting health care for veterans and slashing FBI funding and stated she wants to hold the Republican accountable.
Chavez-DeRemer previously told KOIN 6 News that her constituents are relying on her to work with her Democratic counterparts.
“People are expecting me to reach across the aisle and I should be held accountable for that and so, I have a good track record of doing just that. But not only with the Oregon delegation, I’m doing that with other members of Congress as well,” Chavez-DeRemer said.
In response, McCleod-Skinner said, “she will talk out of both sides of her mouth, she’ll make some efforts but the bottom line when core issues come up with issues on abortion, with issues on health care, veteran's health care come up, she has voted with the extremist agenda. That record stands and she can’t hide from it.”
Rep. Janelle Bynum and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson are also on the Democratic ticket, in a race that could impact the GOP's nine-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I respect them both," McLeod-Skinner said of Bynum and Lynn Peterson. "It’s just that I’m a better fit for the district and in a better position to win next year. I appreciate the work they’ve done in the Portland metro area, but Oregon’s 5th includes urban and rural areas and doesn’t have a lot of overlap with the metro area. I’ve been elected in rural, central Oregon. I’ve got experience getting things done in urban and rural areas and I’ve won the areas that overlap with the areas where they have served."
McLeod-Skinner highlighted the importance of electing a Democrat to the seat amid book bans, for example, and wants to see investments in infrastructure, health care, affordable housing and education.