Schrader vs. McLeod-Skinner splits Democrats in 5th District
Published 1:30 pm Wednesday, March 30, 2022
- Jamie McLeod-Skinner
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader is running in the Democratic primary for re-election in a district with the same number, but a much different map than prior years.
Due to a radically redrawn district approved by the Democratic-dominated Legislature, Schrader finds himself in a close primary with a challenger backed by local Democratic activists who want to dump the centrist congressman.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner of Terrebonne is challenging the incumbent from Canby in a race that splits the party politically and geographically. She’s running to Schrader’s left, as a progressive seeking to beat one of the Democratic moderates, called “Blue Dogs” on Capitol Hill.
Democratic activists have been unhappy with Schrader’s role as a speed bump for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan – often voting in favor of the legislation only after working to narrow its scope and cost.
Schrader is the most moderate of Oregon’s four Democratic members of the U.S. House. He says he has supported the party’s position in most matters, but is not in lockstep with House leadership.
Schrader was one of the few Democrats to oppose the nomination of U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to return as House speaker when Democrats won a majority of U.S. House seats in 2018. He likened the first impeachment of Trump to a “lynching,” a comment he regretted and quickly withdrew.
McLeod-Skinner has been able to get county parties that usually sit out primary races to come off the fence and support her.
Four of five county parties in the district – Deschutes, Linn, Clackamas and Marion – have publicly endorsed McLeod-Skinner. Multnomah has not.
McLeod-Skinner also won the backing of former Gov. Barbara Roberts, who had campaigned for Schrader during his first bid for Congress in 2008.
The key to McLeod-Skinner’s challenge is a radical redistricting of the area Schrader represents. The new 5th district has less than half of his current constituents. The boundaries were shifted significantly east, including a portion that crosses the Cascades to take in the northern parts of Redmond and Bend- near the area where McLeod-Skinner lives.
Schrader has had primary challenges before and comes prepared with a large campaign bankroll. The Federal Elections Commission listed Schrader as having over $3.5 million on hand for his re-election bid. New reports are due no later than April 15.
The local endorsements have fueled national interest in the race. McLeod-Skinner was endorsed last week by Our Revolution, a nationwide network of activists that grew out of the presidential campaigns of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
“A proud progressive Democrat, Jamie has focused her career on rebuilding communities and protecting our natural resources,” the group said in its endorsement statement, released Monday. “Her mom, a schoolteacher, taught her to ‘always leave a place better than you found it.'”
Neither the group or McLeod-Skinner would comment on the amount of money or volunteers the group would provide the campaign.
Our Revolution says its mission is “organizing a down-ballot bench of progressive candidates from city halls to the halls of Congress.”
In Oregon, the group helped elect school board candidates in Portland, Corvallis, Salem-Keizer and Centennial.
In Deschutes County, it helped elect Marcus LeGrand and Janet Sarai Llerandi to the Bend-La Pine School Board.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face a Republican challenger from a primary slate that includes Bend entrepreneur Jimmy Crumpacker, former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and Wilsonville physician John Di Paola.