by Randy Stapilus, Oregon Capital Chronicle
October 14, 2024
The only definitive fact about the campaign for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, now fewer than four weeks from its finish line, is that it is close.
The limited available polling says so, suggesting the candidates are within the margin of error of each other. Both – and their allies – are spending enough that the election is unlikely to be decided because one candidate swamps the other financially.
And the candidates, Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democratic challenger Janelle Bynum, act as if they think so as well.
Last week, on Tuesday night at KOIN TV in Portland and Thursday night at KTVZ in Bend, they met for two of their three planned debates, which, aside from the flood of paid messaging from their campaigns, may be the main basis on which undecided voters will decide between the two of them.
The debates struck a different tone, with the second more energetic and combative. In Tuesday’s exchange, they walked cautiously while firing occasional shots. On Thursday, both sharpened their game, and fireworks exploded in nearly every exchange. Both candidates said the other cannot be trusted, Bynum drilling that point more frequently across a wider range of subjects, even addressing her opponent directly: “We can’t trust you.”
The debates reveal a difference between this race and others across the country. In many congressional districts, Republicans attack the Biden administration at nearly every opportunity, but Chavez-DeRemer has done so sparingly. Her stronger emphasis, especially at the KTVZ debate in Bend, was on bipartisanship, noting that of the 300 bills she has backed in Congress, 84% were bipartisan. She fired occasional shots at Oregon’s Legislature, where Bynum is in her fourth term, but not often directly at Democrats, who account for nearly 32% registered voters in the 5th District compared with 27% for Republicans.
One of Chavez-DeRemer’s stronger moments in both debates came after Bynum cited close work on public safety legislation in the House Judiciary Committee with former Republican Rep. Ron Noble of McMinnville. Chavez-DeRemer fired back that Noble has given a very different account. On Thursday, she even cited a letter she said Noble had written to her describing the relationship very differently.
Bynum replied, “Ron Noble is a man of the cloth. I’m quite surprised he would lie to you.”
Bynum lashed back, blasting Chavez-DeRemer for part of the majority in the U.S. House: “It’s chaotic, it’s confusing and it’s the least productive Congress we’ve had.”
She frequently linked Chavez-DeRemer with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress. She tied her to proposals in Project 2025, to proposals extending abortion bans and changing or limiting Social Security – which Chavez-DeRemer sharply denied – and said her opponent is looking out for the top 1% of the country while ignoring the concerns of others.
The 5th Congressional District has, in recent elections, leaned slightly Democratic, and that seems to have hemmed in Chavez-DeRemer from either firing broad partisan arguments or even making full-throated defenses of either Republicans in Congress or the presidential ticket she’s backing.
In the Tuesday debate, the candidates seemed relatively closely matched, but on Thursday, DeRemer spent more time on the defensive while Bynum appeared relaxed and better able to make broader points, many of them sharply barbed.
There were exceptions. DeRemer focused on crime, inflation and fentanyl, and the two candidates contested those closely.
Anchors asked the candidates specifically about Measure 110, the drug decriminalization measure, which Bynum supported – and voters approved – but Chavez-DeRemer opposed. Bynum acknowledged it hadn’t worked, but said that was largely because the agency infrastructure needed to implement it wasn’t in place, and that she’s worked on that since.
Chavez-DeRemer replied that “when you’re a visionary, you don’t put something on the board if you can’t finish it.”
Another Chavez-DeRemer effort, however, backfired on Thursday.
On Tuesday, she spoke about Bynum’s role in a sexual harassment case, about which Bynum said she had acted appropriately, appearing to tie off the question.
On Thursday, Chavez-DeRemer brought it up again at the end of the debate as the centerpiece of her closing statement. This time Bynum replied amid some self-description, “I’ve been the person who doesn’t take the bait.” She followed that with: “Don’t take the bait, Oregonians. She’s trying to make you forget who her man is” – namely Trump, who in 2020 lost what is now the 5th District.
The second debate especially (less so in the first) found Bynum relaxed, confident and operating mostly on comfortable terrain, drawing broader strokes and more effectively bringing home larger themes.
This is a close race, but the debate suggests that Chavez-DeRemer has the more difficult job to do in winning it.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lynne Terry for questions: [email protected]. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and X.