Oregon political races set as deadline to file passes
Published 5:01 pm Wednesday, March 9, 2022
- A map of the newly realigned 5th Congressional District that stretches from Portland, across the Cascades, to Bend
(story for after deadline to file for office passes March 8)
Brian Lepore of Bend has filed to run as a Democrat in the May 17 primary for House District 55. The district includes parts of Deschutes and Klamath counties.
In a filing with the Secretary of State, Lepore lists himself as a county landowner, with a background in diversified farming. He lists a former occupation as Assistant Professor of Soil Science at Ball State University in Indiana.
Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Malin, filed Jan. 28 to run for the House District 55 seat.
Reschke currently represents House District 56 in the Legislature. With redistricting changing boundaries through the region, he filed to run in the new 55th district.
The 2020 U.S. Census showed the Bend area as having grown the fastest of any part of the state. To rebalance the populations in districts last drawn based on the 2010 U.S. Census, boundaries were significantly shifted.
The Bend city center remains the core of House District 54, a seat held by Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend.
Areas to the north are in House District 53, where Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond, is not seeking re-election. It includes northern Bend, most of Redmond, Sisters and Black Butte Ranch.
The northernmost part of Deschutes County, including Terrebonne, is in House District 59, which also includes Madras, and Prineville. House Minority Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, is running for the seat.
Areas to the southeast, south and southwest – including Deschutes River Woods, La Pine and Sunriver – are in House District 55.
House District 55 follows US Hwy 97 south to Chiloquin, skirts most of the Klamath Falls area, fanning out east along Hwy 70 to take in the towns of Bonanza, Beatty and Bly before stopping at the Lake County line.
On the south end, it continues to Merrill on the border with California.
