Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair is the Republican pick to face off against incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum in November for the state’s 5th Congressional seat.

Adair was leading primary opponent Jonathan Lockwood, a former legislative spokesperson for Republican lawmakers, with nearly 57% of the vote from Republican primary voters in initial results posted shortly after 8 p.m. The Associated Press called the race for her around 8:30.

Bynum, a first-term congresswoman from Happy Valley, handily beat progressive Democratic challenger Zeva Rosenbaum, a marketing and communications specialist from Pacific City, claiming nearly 84% of the vote in the Democratic primary.

“I’m grateful for the trust that voters have placed in me once again, but I’m not taking a victory lap on tonight’s results – my focus remains on the general,” Bynum said in a statement. “The job continues tomorrow morning. Families are still dealing with rising costs, our democracy is still under attack, and Republicans are always willing to put good money behind a bad candidate. On to November.”

Adair, 74, grew up on a beef farm in Heppner and was living in California until returning to the state in 2014 to live on a horse ranch in Sisters. She’s served on the Deschutes County Commission since 2019. A longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, she attended the Republican National Convention as an Oregon delegate for his nomination in 2016.

She hopes to flip Oregon’s most competitive congressional district, which spans from the suburbs of southeastern Portland across parts of the Willamette Valley and stretches over the Cascades to Bend.

Prior to Bynum’s win in 2024, the district was held by one-term Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. President Donald Trump appointed Chavez-DeRemer as his labor secretary but she resigned recently amid an internal investigation of misusing funds and sending inappropriate messages to younger staff.

Although the district has more nonaffiliated voters than voters affiliated with either party, it is home to more registered Democrats than Republicans, and the Cook Political Report rates it as “likely Democratic” in 2026.

Adair has raised more than $300,000 so far, according to the most recent federal election filings, slightly less than the more than $365,000 Bynum has raised this year, and significantly less than the more than $2.2 million cash on hand Bynum has in her campaign coffers.

She previously told the Capital Chronicle that, if elected in November, her priorities would be to make Oregon more affordable, improve education outcomes and public safety and extend tax cuts for tips, overtime and recipients of social security benefits.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/20/patti-adair-jonathan-lockwood-election-result/