Battleground: Oregon
I enjoy reading Max Cohen’s morning political reports in PunchBowl when I wake up most days. But yesterday, he wrote up a hit piece for the DCCC pushing their weak primary recruit in OR-05, Janelle Bynum. Let me start with a disclaimer— Blue America has endorsed Jamie McLeod-Skinner and we’re raising campaign contributions for her here, here and here. (Please… take your pick.)
The DCCC positively hates Jamie McLeod Skinner and has actively worked to undermine her. It’s not just because she’s a progressive— they do hate her because of that but for another reason even more. In 2022, McLeod-Skinner took on one of them in a primary and beat him— unpopular corporate Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. The professional politicians and operatives at the DCCC flipped out when she routed Schrader fair and square, even though he had outspent her massively. His conservative brand just didn’t fit the redrawn district any longer. She beat him by big numbers in the biggest county, Deschutes (71-29%) and beat him in the Portland area as well (60-40%). And that was that— except for the DCCC sore losers, who quickly pivoted to bad-mouthing her and her campaign, not caring at all about throwing a swing district to the Republicans.
The DCCC and House Majority PAC spent millions of dollars on conservative Democrats like Rudy Salas (CA), Adam Gray (CA), Tony Vargas (NE) and Laura Gillen (NY), but most of them had bluer districts than OR-05 and though McLeod-Skinner out-polled all but one of them, despite the least DCCC support of any, the DCCC has recruited the other 4 for 2024 and is working furiously to defeat McLeod-Skinner, even setting up DC journalists to smear her. This table shows what the DCCC and House Majority PAC spent in support of each candidate, the percentage of the vote that each candidate received and the PVI of each district.
Gray- 49.8% (D+4)- $6,628,853
McLeod-Skinner- 49.0% (D+2)- $95,095
Vargas- 48.7% (Even PVI)- $3,657,179
Salas- 48.5% (D+5)- $10,098,851
Gillen- 48.2% (D+5)- 1,489,099
So far this cycle, DCCC allies, the Mainstream Democrats PAC— funded by two right-wing billionaire Dems, Reid Hoffman and Deborah Simon— have spent $759,000 against McLeod-Skinner (character assassination), while the AIPAC-funded grifting operation, the 314 Action Fund, has spent another $473,513 against her.
The DCCC is right about one thing: Janelle Byron is just like Kurt Shrader, the Blue Dog rejected by the OR-05 voters. But this is what Cohen wrote about the race yesterday— basically a list of talking pointed the DCCC handed him— and without asking to interview McLeod-Skinner, the front-runner.
The DCCC rarely plays in open primaries. But the House Democrats’ campaign arm took the unusual step of endorsing Oregon state Rep. Janelle Bynum in a toss-up seat, hoping to block failed 2022 candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner from advancing to the general.
Bynum is seeking the nomination for a chance to unseat freshman GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. President Joe Biden carried Oregon’s 5th District by nine points in 2020. And if Democrats want to flip the House, they need to win seats like this in the fall.
We sat down with Bynum in D.C. ahead of the May 21 primary to get her take on the race— one of the most contentious Democratic primaries of the cycle.
On electability: Bynum said she was the best choice in the Democratic primary because she has “a track record of winning.”
In 2022, McLeod-Skinner mounted a left-wing challenge to knock off then-Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) in the primary. She then lost to Chavez-DeRemer in November.
Bynum, however, wouldn’t attack McLeod-Skinner for losing last cycle. But Bynum did tout her own electoral success against Chavez-DeRemer. The pair faced off in two elections— in 2016 and 2018— for the state House. Bynum won them both.
“[W]hen I decided to run in 2016, Chavez-DeRemer was our city mayor. And I was a mom who was very concerned about education and small business in our district,” Bynum said.
“I don’t know that many people believed that I could do it, but I did it. And then [Chavez-DeRemer] came back for more, and I beat her by an even stronger margin.”
Abortion rights: In the primary campaign, Bynum has messaged mainly on her support for abortion rights. As we’ve covered repeatedly, Democrats plan on using Republican attacks on reproductive rights as a top issue in November.
Bynum criticized Chavez-DeRemer, who has sent mailers hailing her “pro-life” voting record, for her stances in a state that has strong protections for abortion.
“I think that that’s going to be a challenge for Chavez-DeRemer to defend her record, but mine is solid,” Bynum said.
Her record: As a state legislator, Bynum hailed that she was the chief sponsor of Oregon’s CHIPS Act that would bring billions of dollars worth of economic investment to Oregon and thousands of jobs.
GOP view: Chavez-DeRemer told us that the 5th District “is my seat to keep” when we asked what she made of the Democratic primary.
“I’ll take on whoever. We’ve done the hard work, built a good team, and I’ll take on whoever wins,” Chavez-DeRemer said.
Now, here’s what Cohen was too lazy to check and find out. Bynum never faced Chavez-DeRemer in this district. Instead, she won in the Portland metro area, which is heavily Democratic. McLeod-Skinner beat Chavez-DeRemer in the same area. Assuming that if you win in Portland, then you will win the district, is absurd and shows a lack of understanding of the district. Oregon’s governor won in the Portland metro area, but only got 42% in OR-5 in 2022— while McLeod-Skinner was winning 49%.
In the newly redrawn district, only a third of the voters are Democrats. As for abortion rights, in the past Bynum has told people that she supports a 15 week abortion ban, but seems to have hushed that up in a big way. Please watch this ad— and then help Jamie keep it up and running.
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