U.S. House: Hoyle-Skarlatos race for DeFazio's seat too soon to call

The contest to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives held for decades by the retiring Rep. Peter DeFazio pitted his chosen successor against his most recent opponent, as well as several minor party candidates eager to have their voices heard.

Oregon's 4th Congressional District is still up for grabs as of Wednesday afternoon, with Democrat Val Hoyle and Republican Alek Skarlatos as the prime contenders to claim the seat DeFazio will vacate. Though the district has been firmly under DeFazio's Democratic control since the late 1980s, Republicans are hopeful for breakthrough that could help them retake power in the House.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Hoyle was leading with 51.2% of the votes counted. Skarlatos trailed with 43% of the vote.

Incumbents win 3 Oregon House races, others too soon to call

Democratic and Republican incumbents in Oregon's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts won reelection Tuesday to the U.S. House of Representatives, with the state's other three seats still up for grabs.

Democrats Suzanne Bonamici in the 1st and Earl Blumenauer in the 3rd held their districts, which both include parts of Portland, while Republican Cliff Bentz was reelected in the 2nd, which covers the state's eastern half and much of the south.

Hours after partial returns were released by Oregon's secretary of state, it was too early to call the other races.

A toss-up in the 5th District and a closer-than-expected race in the 6th have Democrats battling to maintain their advantage in the state as Republicans seek to capitalize on concerns about inflation and crime.

Democrats controlled four of the state's five previous U.S. House seats and are hoping to claim its newly created sixth one as well. Oregon was one of just six states to gain a seat after the 2020 census.

The most hotly contested race is in the 5th, which stretches from Portland's affluent southern suburbs to the central high desert city of Bend and includes the rural, mountainous areas in between.

Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a businesswoman and former mayor of the Portland suburb of Happy Valley, is hoping to flip the district red for the first time in over two decades. The super PAC linked to House Republicans, the Congressional Leadership Fund, has spent more than $2.7 million on several ads there.

She's facing off against Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, an emergency preparedness coordinator. The progressive candidate ousted moderate seven-term incumbent Kurt Schrader in the party's primary.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Chavez-DeRemer has a slight lead with 51.7% of the votes counted, and McLeod-Skinner trails with 48.3%.

Chavez-DeRemer is one of two candidates running to be Oregon's first Latina elected to Congress, along with Democrat Andrea Salinas in the state's new 6th District.

The 6th also includes parts of Portland's southern suburbs, along with the state capital, Salem, and more rural areas. Many analysts view it as leaning Democratic.

Salinas, a state representative and former congressional staffer, is up against Republican Mike Erickson, a businessman who is running for Congress for a third time.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Salinas was leading with 50.1% of the vote and Erickson trails with 47.7%.

About the District 4 candidates:

Val Hoyle

Val Hoyle, 57, is Oregon’s statewide Labor Commissioner, elected in 2018. She was appointed to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2009 to represent west Eugene and Junction City, and she won reelection in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Hoyle stepped down as majority leader in 2015 to run for secretary of state but lost in the primary.

Hoyle announced her candidacy shortly after DeFazio announced his retirement plans. DeFazio later endorsed Hoyle.

Hoyle said many potential voters she's spoken to over the course of the campaign have raised the issues of access to abortion services after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the effects of climate change on Oregon.

Alek Skarlatos

Alek Skarlatos, 29, first ran for the 4th District seat in 2020. He lost, but gave DeFazio a challenging reelection fight.

DeFazio, who has held the 4th District seat longer than any other occupant, won the 2020 general election with nearly 52% of the vote, his narrowest-ever victory. Skarlatos outraised DeFazio by about $700,000 during that election cycle.

Skarlatos is a former Oregon National Guardsman who gained fame in 2015 for stopping a gunman on a Paris-bound train. In 2018, Skarlatos portrayed himself in a movie about the attack directed by Clint Eastwood, "The 15:17 to Paris."

Skarlatos didn't face an opponent in the 2022 primary.

Skarlatos said he's spent much of the year touring the 4th District, including with a recent road trip up the Interstate 5 corridor and down the coast. He said winning over coastal and rural communities is critical for his campaign strategy.

Mike Beilstein

Mike Beilstein, running on the Pacific Green Party of Oregon and Oregon Progressive Party tickets, is a retired chemist and was a nutrition researcher at Oregon State University for 30 years. He formerly served on the Corvallis City Council.

This is his sixth bid for the 4th District seat, though his first time in a contest for the seat that doesn't include DeFazio.

Beilstein said he primarily is an anti-militarist, having begun his political career in response to the 1990-91 Gulf War.

Beilstein believes the Russian invasion of Ukraine was provoked by the United States and its allies. He believes Russia is committing war crimes there, but opposes sending weapons to Ukraine and supports negotiations to end the conflict.

Levi Leatherberry

Levi Leatherberry, running as an independent and a Libertarian Party of Oregon candidate, is making his first bid for elected office in the 4th District race. He is a farmer in Eugene and participated in humanitarian work around the world.

Leatherberry does not have a campaign staff and is not taking political donations. His campaign issues are focused on things that he believes could be realistically accomplished during a two-year term and inspired by community input.

Leatherberry said he built his platform based on soliciting what issues potential voters want him to support, rather than coming to them with his ideas. That platform now includes a smattering of policy positions and plans, including audits of government agencies to rein in spending; creating a committee to investigate members of Congress so as to shrink housing costs by rooting out illicit practices he says drive high prices; and using technology to find political corruption.

Jim Howard

Jim Howard, a former Pleasant Hill School District superintendent, will appear on the ballot as an Oregon Constitution Party candidate. But Howard said he is endorsing Skarlatos and encouraging his supporters to vote for the Republican.

— CLAIRE RUSH of Associated Press/Report for America, contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Election results for Oregon House district congressional seats