Centrist Schrader ousted in Oregon primary

Rep. Kurt Schrader, a seven-term centrist Democrat from Oregon, has lost his primary to a progressive challenger, handing a massive win to the party’s left flank.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an attorney and business owner endorsed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), benefited from the decennial redistricting process, which left Schrader running in a district that was largely new territory to him. And progressives turned their energy on the incumbent, in part, because they blamed Schrader and other Democratic moderates blocked the passage of two big party priorities on social spending and drug pricing.

The Associated Press called the race Friday morning, roughly a week and a half after the May 17 primary day, after a protracted vote count in one of the district's largest counties.

Schrader is the third incumbent to fall in the 2022 cycle and the first Democrat, following Reps. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) and Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.). (Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, another moderate Democrat, was also defeated in a member-vs.-member primary held a week after Schrader's race.)

He took the threat seriously, spending $3.5 million in the primary and landing an endorsement from President Joe Biden. He also got outside support from a pair of groups aligned with moderate Democrats: Center Forward and a new super PAC called Mainstream Democrats.

But McLeod-Skinner attacked Schrader for getting support from corporate interests, and she herself earned support from several Democratic county organizations in the district, which includes the Portland suburbs. McLeod-Skinner previously ran against former Republican Rep. Greg Walden in 2018 in a deep red Oregon district, losing but holding strong in parts of that seat that were redrawn into Schrader’s district.

McLeod-Skinner will face Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the former mayor of Happy Valley, Ore., in the general election.

Republicans are already targeting the new district, which Biden would have carried by 9 points in 2020. And they relish the prospect of running against a candidate less moderate than Schrader.

First elected in 2008, Schrader is one of the most centrist members of the House Democratic caucus. And Schrader has relished being a thorn in leadership’s side, particularly this term as Democrats confronted ultra-thin margins in the House.

The Blue Dog Democrat, for instance, infuriated many in his party when he worked with other moderates to derail the party’s signature drug pricing reform bill last fall.

He was also among the nine Democratic moderates who mutinied over party leaders’ plans to link two of Biden’s biggest priorities together. Ultimately, only the White House’s bipartisan infrastructure plan passed.

Schrader is known as an outspoken member, who was forced to apologize when he compared the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump to a “lynching.”

Progressives were also eyeing an upset in South Texas, where attorney Jessica Cisneros trails Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the last antiabortion House Democrat, by fewer than 200 votes in Tuesday's primary runoff. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race.

Cisneros also notched an endorsement from Warren and other big names on the left like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and the Justice Democrats.