Chavez-DeRemer

We believe the brand-new, redrawn 5th Congressional District should have a brand-new member of Congress. We endorse Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic Primary and Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the Republican primary.

The redrawn 5th district includes Bend and Redmond and stretches all the way to Portland. It has no incumbent. It’s an open seat.

Rep. Kurt Schrader, a Democrat, who is currently in Congress representing his old district, has some of the clout of incumbency, without being the incumbent. He has raised more money than Democratic challenger McLeod-Skinner, almost nine times as much. If you are like us, you sure see a lot more Schrader ads than McLeod-Skinner ads.

Schrader also has a track record in Congress. For some Democratic primary voters, his record should raise questions. Picking out individual votes is tricky. But Schrader did vote, at one point, against the American Rescue Plan. He did oppose a $15 minimum wage. He also said he thought the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump was like a “lynching.”

Schrader can defend his voting record. He can point out instances where he did support the American Rescue Plan, improve health care and conditions for working families. He apologized for the lynching comment. The former veterinarian strikes us as more moderate than McLeod-Skinner. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee feels like he is best equipped to win the district in November.

In the Democratic primary, though, it is about who people registered as Democrats here, in Oregon, think would best represent them. Four county Democratic Party organizations in this new district, took the unusual step to endorse McLeod-Skinner. It’s a signal of how some Democrats believe in McLeod-Skinner and reject the political path chosen by Schrader.

On issues like the minimum wage, on the environment, on health care, we don’t expect McLeod-Skinner will waver on the Democratic Party line, as Schrader arguably has. If you are a Democrat and she does get into Congress, we doubt you will be looking back at her votes and be questioning what she was thinking. She is not simply out to spend tax dollars. She is looking for smart ways to invest them.

We know she won’t agree with many Republicans in Congress. We’d be surprised if she couldn’t find ways to work with them. She does not have Schrader’s experience in Congress. She has worked as an attorney, in city government, on emergency preparedness and served on boards on water and education issues.

We frankly also found it peculiar that Schrader would pull out of a local debate he had said he was going to attend. When we tried to get his campaign to explain what he would be doing instead, his campaign did not respond. It would be a mistake to read too much into that. It would also be a mistake to ignore what it might mean for his new constituents when they want explanations for his actions, if he is elected.

The Republican field is more crowded. Five people are running. We believe former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Jimmy Crumpacker of Tumalo are the strongest candidates and focused our attention on them.

Chavez-DeRemer was the first in her family to go to college. She has served in elected office. She is Hispanic. She and her husband run medical clinics in the Pacific Northwest. Those things don’t dictate that she should be the choice of Republicans in this primary. They are details that would bring an important perspective to the Republican Party and to representing this district.

Crumpacker has run before for the Republican nomination for Congress against now-Rep. Cliff Bentz. He worked on Wall Street. He grew up in Oregon and has worked recently as an investor. He has never been elected to office, nor worked in government.

Crumpacker highlighted organizations to us that have endorsed him. Chavez-DeRemer highlighted people that have endorsed her, Republicans in the state. It’s people like Redmond Mayor George Endicott, Chris Dudley, former House Republican Leader Mike McLane and state Rep. Daniel Bonham that have endorsed Chavez-DeRemer. Is that an important difference? Maybe not. We feel like it may be.

We didn’t hear much distinction in priorities between Chavez-DeRemer and Crumpacker. We don’t have reason to believe they would vote all that differently. When we interviewed her, she, perhaps, talked more about border issues, crime and education. Crumpacker talked more about inflation and energy independence.

We see Chavez-DeRemer as bringing more diversity in life experience as a nominee to her party. She has a record of accomplishment in, albeit, local government. And it was she who has earned the endorsement of a number of Republican Oregonians, who we may not always agree with, but we certainly respect.