State Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, declares victory in the 5th Congressional District on Nov. 8, 2024. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Democrat Janelle Bynum has defeated incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer and will give Oregon a 5-1 Democratic majority in Congress, the third time she has beaten her Republican rival in an election in less than a decade.
The Associated Press called the 5th Congressional District, Oregon’s most closely divided district that stretches from Bend to Portland, in Bynum’s favor Thursday morning after counties reported additional ballot results Wednesday. With nearly all mailed ballots processed and tallied, Bynum is on track to beat Chavez-DeRemer by about 9,600 votes and 2.5 percentage points.
Bynum declared victory nearly a week ago, after the Oregonian/OregonLive called the race based on its analysis of remaining votes to be tallied. She’ll serve in the minority in Congress — although a handful of races, most in California, remain too close to call, the AP projected Wednesday night that Republicans have the 218 seats they need for the majority.
“The work is far from over,” Bynum told reporters at her campaign headquarters Friday. “It’s time that Oregon 5 is represented by a true member of their community, someone who shows up when they’re needed and stands up for them even when the problems are hard. I want every single person in this state to know that their children will be able to build a life here, to afford a house, to get a job that pays well, to build a retirement and to watch their children build their own lives in this state, to know that they are able to give their kids more opportunities than they had themselves.”
Chavez-DeRemer acknowledged the result in a press release on Thursday, saying she was “deeply grateful” for the opportunity to serve as a voice for Oregonians in Congress during the past two years.
“Although this isn’t the outcome we had hoped for, I’m proud of what we accomplished together,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “I hope Ms. Bynum will follow the example I have set over the past two years and serve as a pragmatic, thoughtful, and bipartisan leader who will work with the Trump administration to address housing affordability, improve public safety, and secure the border.”
The race for Oregon’s 5th District was one of the most expensive and most intense in the state — Bynum and Chavez-DeRemer raised more than $12 million combined, and outside groups spent more than $20 million to fill airwaves, internet browsers and mailboxes with ads.
Bynum, recruited by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, was Democrats’ pick to take on Chavez-DeRemer after 2022 Democratic nominee Jamie McLeod-Skinner picked off incumbent Democrat Kurt Schrader in a primary and went on to lose to Chavez-DeRemer. Jeffries visited Clackamas to rally for Bynum, while House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, made at least two trips to Oregon to boost support for Chavez-DeRemer.
The candidates were familiar with each other — Bynum defeated Chavez-DeRemer in state House races in 2016 and 2018 — and their mutual distaste was on display during their few public interactions. Chavez-DeRemer depicted Bynum, who played a key role in crafting Oregon’s suite of police reform laws passed in 2021, as a radical who opposed the police and quickly seized on an unsubstantiated allegation from a McLeod-Skinner campaign aide that Bynum didn’t report sexual misconduct from someone assigned to her previous campaign. Bynum sought to tie Chavez-DeRemer to Republican president-elect Donald Trump, frequently accusing her of “standing by her man.”
The Oregon Legislature’s BIPOC caucus, of which Bynum is a founding member, congratulated Bynum on her win and noted its historic significance. Bynum has been the only Black woman in the state House and will be the state’s first Black member of Congress.
“When Representative Janelle Bynum first entered the Oregon House of Representatives in 2017, she joined a short list of Black women elected to our state’s legislative assembly,” the caucus said. “As a founding member of the BIPOC Caucus, she never stopped pushing those in power to work towards a future that acknowledges the lived realities of BIPOC communities.”
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