Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer defeats Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in Oregon's 5th Congressional District election

• Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer defeated Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in Oregon's 5th Congressional District.

• The 5th District covers many of the state's conservative and liberal strongholds.

• Chavez-DeRemer will now become one of the first Latinas elected from the state.

Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer defeated Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in Oregon's 5th Congressional District.

Oregon's 5th Congressional District candidates

Chavez-DeRemer is one of several Hispanic conservative women who ran for office in 2022. She served as mayor of Happy Valley from 2010 to 2018. With her election to office, Chavez-DeRemer will become the first Republican to flip the seat that's been held by Democratic Rep. Kurt Schrader since 2009.

Chavez-DeRemer defeated her GOP challengers in a five-way primary, bringing in more than 40% of the total vote.

McLeod-Skinner is a small business owner and emergency response coordinator. Prior to running for Congress, she worked in the public service sector managing the repairs of hospitals and schools in Bosnia and Kosovo. The 55-year-old candidate also served on the city council of Santa Clara, California, for eight years.

If she had won the election, McLeod-Skinner would have been the first openly lesbian person from Oregon to be a member of Congress. Currently, there are 11 LGBTQ people openly serving in Congress, and three are lesbian.

McLeod-Skinner defeated the seven-term Schrader in the Democratic primary for Oregon's 5th Congressional District, securing 56.9% of the vote to his 42.7%.

Both received prominent endorsements — McLeod-Skinner from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Schrader from President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Voting history for Oregon's 5th Congressional District

Oregon's 5th Congressional District is situated to the west of the state and encompasses Bend and the Portland suburbs.

The freshly redrawn district, which backed Biden over former President Donald Trump by about 10 percentage points under its previous boundaries in 2020, was reconfigured to cover many conservative and liberal strongholds in Oregon in redistricting following the 2020 Census, making it competitive.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Chavez-DeRemer raised $2.2 million, spent $1.9 million, and had $317,652 of cash still left to spend, as of October 19. Her opponent, McLeod-Skinner, raised $3.2 million, spent $2.8 million, and had $404,404 of cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of early November, super PACs, national party committees, and other non-candidate groups have combined to spend about $12.9 million advocating for or against candidates in this race, including during the primaries.

What experts say

The race between McLeod-Skinner and Chavez-DeRemer is rated as "tilt Republican" by Inside Elections, "lean Republican" by The Cook Political Report, and a "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

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