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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined Oregon Democrats Wednesday in a crowded press conference in the Portland area, urging support for Democratic congressional candidate Janelle Bynum.

It’s the latest sign that the race for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District has emerged as one of the nation’s most critical elections.

Jeffries praised Bynum’s work as a state legislator and accused the incumbent, Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, of being aligned with politically extreme Republicans and former President Donald Trump, whose presidential bid she endorsed.

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“We will always continue to put people over politics, and Janelle Bynum has a track record of delivering real results and solving problems for hardworking people that she’s privileged to represent,” said Jeffries, a New York Democrat. “Extreme MAGA Republicans, including Lori Chavez-DeRemer, put (Donald Trump’s) Project 2025 over the people of this great state.”

The race for the fifth district is one of a handful of races in America that could decide who controls the U.S. House of Representatives. Jeffries is the latest high-level member of Congress to throw their political weight into a race that, according to two recent polls, is neck-and-neck.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, the nation’s top Republican congressman, visited Portland in August for an event supporting Chavez-DeRemer, who has served in the U.S. House since her narrow victory in 2022, when she flipped a district President Joe Biden won in 2020.

“This is going to be a critically important race,” said Jeffries, who has served as the minority leader and the leader of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023. “No pressure on you, Janelle.”

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Bynum called Chavez-DeRemer an extremist and sought to tie the incumbent to former President Trump’s agenda, echoing a common theme among Democratic congressional candidates who are seeking to portray Republicans as an imminent threat to democracy.

“She sided with the most extreme members of her party time and time again,” said Bynum, who has twice defeated Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon House races.

If elected, Bynum would be the state’s first Black member of Congress.

“She said she would put Oregon families first,” Bynum said of her opponent. “Instead she’s enabled Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.”

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The two Democrats spoke in a crowded space in an office building near the Clackamas Town Center in suburban Clackamas County, where more than 40% of the district’s voters live. The county was decided in the last election by just over one percentage point, making it consequential in the race for the swing district. They were surrounded by supporters from SEIU Local 503, a union that, on its website, claims to include 72,000 public services workers and care providers in Oregon.

“She talks a big game, Lori Chavez-DeRemer does, about workers and unions,” said Melissa Unger, the group’s executive director. “But when it comes down to it, she has not shown up for us when we needed her in Congress.”

Nick Trainer, Chavez-DeRemer’s senior advisor, issued a statement in response to Wednesday’s event that touted the incumbent congresswoman’s bipartisan record and labor support.

“Just like Hakeem Jeffries, Janelle Bynum is an extreme liberal who supports soft-on-crime policies that have failed to keep families safe,” he said. “From championing Measure 110 to siding with Defund the Police groups, Janelle Bynum’s dangerous record in the legislature speaks for itself — she would be nothing more than a rubber stamp for Leader Jeffries’ extreme agenda that would wreck our economy and let criminals loose on our streets.”

Urban-rural divide underscores tensions as congressional candidates vie for Clackamas County

The Democrats’ press conference came just days after incumbent Chavez-DeRemer spoke at the 2024 Reagan Dinner hosted by the Oregon Republican Party on Saturday. The event featured some of the state’s top Republican leaders, as well as Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, from Montana, and Riley Marie Gaines, a former competitive swimmer and political activist who has advocated against transgender women participating in women’s sports.

In her speech, Chavez-DeRemer blamed Bynum for rising taxes, the state’s high housing prices and the struggles around crime and addiction that have recently plagued the city of Portland.

“My opponent has nearly a decade in the state legislature to address the issues impacting Oregonians,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “But they’ve only gotten worse.”

The candidates are increasingly seeking to appeal to a narrow slice of undecided, middle-of-the-lane Oregonian voters in this swing district, which stretches from Portland down through Albany and east through the Cascade Mountains to Bend. In public appearances and videos, the candidates tout their bipartisan record and moderate stances while seeking to portray the other as politically extreme.

In a recent video, Bynum spoke about taking on her own party after seeing that Measure 110, the state’s drug decriminalization law, wasn’t working. Her statements drew swift rebuke from Republicans who said she wasn’t part of lawmakers’ negotiations to recriminalize drugs.

Chavez-DeRemer, meanwhile, has stated she would oppose federal policies restricting access to reproductive health and said she went against Republican party members by killing a bill that would have restricted access to mifepristone nationwide. Bynum has repeatedly accused Chavez-DeRemer of flip-flopping on abortion rights, calling her an “anti-abortion extremist.”

“Friends, it’s clear Oregonians cannot trust Lori Chavez-DeRemer to protect their reproductive rights,” Bynum said Wednesday. “It’s plain, and it’s simple.”

‘OPB Politics Now’: A deep dive into Oregon’s 5th Congressional District

The race is generating vast amounts of money and advertisements that are flooding social media, television and mailboxes.

At least $6.6 million has been spent on advertisements both supporting and opposing the two candidates since Aug. 27, according to independent expenditures filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Super PACs dedicated to electing party members to Congress have thrown in at least $3 million opposing either candidate. Among the groups backing Chavez-DeRemer is Fairshake, a super PAC bankrolled by top cryptocurrency companies, which dedicated more than $1.5 million toward media supporting the incumbent.

Chavez-DeRemer acknowledged the surge in commercials while speaking at the event last weekend.

“I apologize, even if they’re the good commercials, you’re going to be so sick and tired of seeing my face,” she said. “It’s only the beginning. In the next week, you’re going to feel just sick about it. And I know. People are texting me like, ‘Can we just watch the basketball game without seeing your face?’ And I’m like, ‘Nope, that’s not happening.’”

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2024/10/02/hakeem-jeffries-janelle-bynum-oregon-fifth-district/