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Oregon Democrat joins race to take back a competitive House seat the GOP flipped in 2022 [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-06-21  

State Rep. Janelle Bynum announced Wednesday that she’d seek the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, a constituency Chavez-DeRemer narrowly flipped two years after it supported Joe Biden 53-44. Bynum, who would be the state’s first Black member of Congress, entered the primary with endorsements from Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Andrea Salinas, who respectively represent the neighboring 1st and 6th Districts.

This constituency, which is based in Portland’s southern suburbs and central Oregon, will likely be a top Democratic target, but Chavez-DeRemer’s 51-49 victory over Jamie McLeod Skinner in 2022 demonstrated that it's not reliably blue turf despite the presidential toplines. According to new calculations from Daily Kos Elections Republican Christine Drazan carried this district even as she was losing last year's hotly contested race for governor to Democrat Tina Kotek: Drazan outpaced the now-governor 47-43, with another 9% going to conservative Democrat-turned-independent Betsy Johnson.

Bynum herself has experience defeating her would-be opponent, though on a smaller scale. The Democrat won her spot in the state House in 2016 by beating none other than Chavez-DeRemer 51-49 in an open-seat race, a victory that took place as Hillary Clinton was carrying the same district 51-42. The defeated Republican came back for a rematch two years later, but Bynum fended her off 54-46 during that blue wave year. More recently, Bynum pulled off a convincing 55-45 victory over GOP challenger Kori Haynes following an expensive campaign in 2022.

Bynum has a competitive nomination fight ahead of her before she can focus on what would be her third general election battle with Chavez-DeRemer. Oregon Metro Council President Lynn Peterson launched her own campaign earlier this month, while McLeod Skinner, who would be the state’s first LGBTQ+ member of Congress, has also expressed interest in trying again.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/21/2176719/-Oregon-Democrat-joins-race-to-take-back-a-competitive-House-seat-the-GOP-flipped-in-2022

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