Next year’s May primary is more than 11 months away, but already Democrats are lining up to reclaim a congressional district that their party represented before the 2020 redistricting.
Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer beat Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the 2022 general election after McLeod-Skinner pulled off an upset in the primary. This is Oregon’s swing district, so the contest is likely to be intense and expensive.
Former Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-Oregon), who opposed such Democratic bills as raising the federal minimum wage and lowering Medicare prescription drug prices, had represented the 5th Congressional District for seven terms before his primary defeat. (He now works for a D.C.-based lobbying firm that represents pharmaceutical companies.)
Here are the Democrats who may seek to represent the district that extends from the Southeast Portland suburbs to Bend:
- McLeod-Skinner, an attorney, is weighing another run. She previously ran for Congress in the Republican-heavy 2nd Congressional District, where she ran a more competitive race than any Democrat since before 2000, and for the Democratic nomination for Oregon secretary of state.
- Oregon Rep. Janelle Bynum successfully beat Lori Chavez-DeRemer in two close contests for the Oregon House. She’s considering a run.
- Lynn Peterson, who is council president of the regional government Metro and a former Clackamas County chair, says she’s in.
There may yet be other candidates. And they are sure to face a difficult general election contest. Chavez-DeRemer is already raising money, with over $635,000 raised this year — more than any other U.S. representative from Oregon.
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