One of the most competitive races in the country, the battle for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District remained too close to call.
Vice President Kamala Harris has secured Oregon’s eight electoral votes after receiving more than 55 percent of the vote on Tuesday night. Former President Donald Trump had tallied 42 percent, at 9 p.m, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office.
Oregon is a Democratic stronghold in presidential races. President Joe Biden won 56 percent of the state in the 2020 general election against Trump. The state has opted for Democratic nominees since the 1988 presidential election.
CD-5 Cliffhanger
The battle over Oregon’s 5th Congressional District seat was too close to call on Tuesday night. At 12:30 a.m. ET, state Rep. Janelle Bynum (D) was narrowly leading Republican incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer with 47.6 percent to 46 percent, respectively, or about 4,500 votes, with 54 percent reporting.
Democrats hope to recapture the seat since Chavez-DeRemer flipped it red in 2022.
It is one of a handful of districts that could help Republicans hold their razor-thin advantage in the U.S. House or allow Democrats to take it back.
The Cook Political Report had the race as a tossup and named it among the most competitive in the nation.
The two had faced off twice before, with Bynum defeating Chavez-DeRemer to represent Oregon House District 51. In 2022, Chavez-DeRemer became the first female Republican to represent Oregon in Congress.
The race was among the most expensive in Oregon during this cycle.
As of Oct. 16, Bynum had raised more than $6.4 million, according to the Federal Election Commission, while Chavez-DeRemer had received more than $5.6 million. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and House Majority PAC on the Democrats’ side and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and Congressional Leadership Fund on the GOP side—had allocated $28 million for TV ad time in the Portland media market, indicating the district’s importance.
Chavez-DeRemer focused her campaign on addressing the fentanyl crisis and enhancing security at the U.S. southern border. She also criticized Bynum for supporting Oregon’s Ballot Measure 110. That voter-approved measure, which decriminalized hard drugs, is widely blamed for the state’s drug addiction and overdose crisis. Voters overturned the measure in April after three years.
Bynum focused on voting rights, abortion access, and health care reform. She said her top priority would be to codify Roe v. Wade.
More than 187,000 of the district’s voters are nonaffiliated, followed by 170,000 Democrats and almost 145,000 Republicans, according to the Oregon secretary of state’s April 2024 voter registration data. Biden won the district by 9 points in 2020.
Incumbent Holding CD-6
Freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas was holding off Republican businessman Mike Erickson at 12:30 a.m. in a rematch for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District.
In 2022, Salinas edged out Erickson by 50.1 percent to 47.7 percent. Salinas increased her margin in this cycle, earning 53 percent of the vote, while Erickson garnered 46 percent.
This is only the second general election in CD-6, which became the state’s first new district in 40 years after the 2020 census.
The race was one of three Oregon contests with the potential to tilt the balance of power in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Both the Democratic and Republican national political parties had designated the district as a priority. In July, the NRCC named Erickson to its “Young Guns” list, identifying him as one of its top candidates to flip a House seat red. Salinas was on the DCCC’s “Frontline” list of vulnerable incumbents.
Fundraising favored Salinas, who banked more than $5 million compared with Erickson’s $544,000 as of Oct. 16, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
Democrats Keep CD-4
Freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle has fended off a challenge by Republican Monique DeSpain, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and attorney, with 53 percent of the vote compared with 43 percent for the challenger.
The candidates battled for Oregon’s diverse 4th Congressional District, which encompasses seven mostly rural counties, 250 miles of coastline, and the state’s two major University towns of Eugene and Corvallis.
The district has been in Democrat hands for nearly four decades. Unaffiliated voters, who often vote for Democrats, make up 35 percent of registered voters, with Democrats at 32 percent and Republicans at 25 percent, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office.
In 2022, voters chose Hoyle to replace longtime Democratic Rep. Peter Defazio when he retired after 36 years in office. Biden won the district in 2020 with 53 percent of the vote.
Fundraising made a difference in the race. Hoyle raised more than $2.4 million compared with DeSpain’s $830,000 as of Oct. 16, according to the Federal Elections Commission.