Incumbent Democrat Emerson Levy was reelected to her seat in the race for Oregon House District 53. Levy was winning 54% to 46% over challenger Keri Lopez, according to results posted Wednesday afternoon.

Lopez conceded in an e-mailed statement to The Bulletin.

The district includes northern areas of Bend, most of Redmond, Sisters, Tumalo, Eagle Crest and Black Butte Ranch.

Levy, a freshman state representative, based her campaign on work she has done in the Legislature, including bills on e-bike safety for youth and raising funds for panic alarms in Bend-La Pine Schools. She said she is focused on widening access to affordable housing.

Levy said she was “overjoyed” at the result. She said her second term will reflect the work she has done during her first two years.

“I will lead on all the things I ran on, which is bipartisan solutions, the Oregon Way and reaching across the aisle to get stuff done,” she said. “I will keep fighting for Central Oregon.”

Levy, originally from Huntsville, Alabama, studied business at Brigham Young University-Hawaii and law at Whittier College. She said she was inspired to get into politics after Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.

In 2020 she ran and lost against Jack Zika in the District 53 race, then won the seat in 2022.

Lopez, a Redmond School Board member since 2021, said she is opposed to raising taxes on certain goods and wants to create tax exemptions for household goods. She also supported exempting taxes on tips. She also supports wage hikes for teachers and greater school cellphone restrictions.

“It is clear, more than 50% of the voters do not want the change we were proposing,” said Lopez in her concession statement. “The response at the doors and my events were so rewarding, and I know Central Oregon is worth fighting for even in a loss.”

Lopez said she will continue to work for the Redmond School Board.