Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas and Republican Mike Erickson are vying for Oregon’s 6th Congressional seat. The two ran for the seat in 2022.(Campaign photos)
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas faces another challenge from Mike Erickson in her bid to run for a second term of office as the Democratic incumbent in the 6th Congressional District.
The faceoff marks a repeat of the 2022 race, when Salinas was elected to Congress and beat Erickson, a Republican businessman, by a margin of 7,210 votes, or 2.5 points.
The district stretches from Portland area suburbs to Salem, encompassing all of Polk and Yamhill counties and portions of Marion, Clackamas and Washington counties. The district is Oregon’s newest after 2021 redistricting redrew congressional districts to account for population shifts after the 2020 Census.
Analysts consider the district one of the most competitive in the country, and it’s garnered national interest, though they give Salinas a slight advantage as the incumbent. It has more than 179,000 unaffiliated voters, more than 145,000 Democrats and almost 120,000 Republicans.
In 2022, Salinas beat Erickson by 2.5 points in 2022. The district is one of the most competitive in the country, though forecasters give Salinas a slight advantage. It has more than 179,000 unaffiliated voters, more than 145,000 Democrats and almost 120,000 Republicans.
Erickson, who runs a logistics company, casts his business experience as a selling point, saying he understands what Oregonian businesses and working families need as they fight inflation.
Salinas, meanwhile, points voters toward her first term of Congress – and her five years as a state legislator in the Oregon House.
On the money front, Salinas had an edge: She raised nearly $4.8 million as of Sept. 30, while Erickson raised about $459,000 as of Sept. 30, according to federal election filings.
Democratic incumbent
Salinas, 54, told the Capital Chronicle she is passionate about worker rights and is willing to work across the aisle to pass legislation.
She is one of Oregon’s first two Latina congresswomen elected in 2022 along with Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who represents the competitive 5th Congressional District. Salinas’ father immigrated from Mexico and worked in cotton and tomato farms during his boyhood, later earning his U.S. citizenship and becoming a San Francisco police officer.
After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Salinas spent time working as an aide for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Reps. Pete Stark, D-California and Darlene Hooley, D-Oregon. She’s also worked as a lobbyist for organizations advocating for immigrant rights, farmworker rights, environmental causes and reproductive health.
Before her election to Congress, Salinas was a state legislator. She was first appointed to the state House in 2017 to fill a vacancy after former Rep. Ann Lininger was appointed as judge in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Salinas completed that term, won her first election in 2018 and was reelected in 2020.
“I’ve made it my mission to be a policymaker, not a politician, and that’s why I’m working with members of both parties to bring down the cost of gas and groceries, tackle the fentanyl and addiction crisis and make housing more affordable for Oregon families,” Salinas said at a recent Salem Area Chamber of Commerce forum with Erickson.
In 2023, Salinas sponsored a bill that passed and was signed into law that restores the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s right to pursue land claims and compensation. The bill corrected a drafting error to a 1994 legislative amendment that compensated the Grand Ronde Tribe after the discovery of an 84-acre survey error the federal government made in 1871. The 1994 legislation inadvertently prevented the tribe from seeking compensation for any future surveying errors that are found.
The bill was one of only 27 that Congress passed in 2023 and were signed into law.
Salinas said her priorities include tax credits so people can afford child care, passing a farm bill that helps growers and a strong behavioral health system.
Salinas said she will work to increase the number of beds available for people on Medicaid who need the kind of intensive mental health and addiction treatment offered in residential facilities. Incentives are necessary so people will enter the behavioral health workforce, Salinas said. She has introduced bills to do that, including through scholarships.
She also supports driving down housing costs with increased public-private partnerships and more bonds in which the government assumes some of the responsibility.
After two years in Washington, Salinas said she realizes how much higher the stakes are after seeing the influence of far-right Republicans like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgie and the Freedom Caucus. Salinas also said there are Republicans who are trying to serve their constituents rather than a cause.
“But they’re being hijacked by this extreme wing and the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of the world, who are basically saying that we should get rid of meteorologists because it’s in Project 2025, and they’re fearful that meteorologists are the ones who are causing this climate crisis narrative,” Salinas said, adding that science and facts get ignored. “I do feel that the consequences of this election feel more dire.
And that extends to working families and labor issues, Salinas said, when she spoke at a recent carpenters union gathering at the Pacific Northwest Carpenters Institute in Portland.
“Whether it’s at the picket line or the policymaking table, you can count on me to show up for Oregon workers,” Salinas said. “Our movement is built on the idea that prosperity is something that we achieve together. We are united by one common goal: help working families get ahead.”
Salinas drew a distinction between herself and her opponent.
“I’ve worked for different advocacy organizations trying to get better wages for unions, protect workers rights, protect the environment, protect our reproductive freedoms here in Oregon,” Salinas said. “I have the experience of bringing people to the table and moving legislation and moving policy. All he has experience in doing is complaining about last year’s election.”
Salinas still faces an ongoing lawsuit from the 2022 election, when Erickson sued her for a campaign ad that alleged he was “charged with felony drug possession” of illegal oxycodone in 2016.
The commercial stems from Erickson’s 2016 arrest for driving under the influence in Hood River. While he was booked into jail, police found a 5-milligram oxycodone pill, which he said belonged to his wife. Prosecutors decided not to charge Erickson with drug possession as part of his guilty plea for drunken driving. The Hood River District Attorney, Carrie Rasmussen, has said felony charges were never considered, but a handwritten document from Erickson’s 2016 defense attorney wrongly stated they were being dismissed.
Erickson blamed his loss in 2022 on Salinas’ ad.
Erickson’s lawyer also accused Salinas of running a false ad this time around, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The lawyer wrote to Salinas, demanding she stop airing an ad claiming he paid for an abortion despite supporting a national abortion ban.
Neither Erickson’s nor Salinas’ campaign released the letter. Erickson declined to comment while Salinas’ campaign manager Simone Archer-Krauss said in a statement that the ad reflects information that’s been publicly reported.
“Mike Erickson’s ex-girlfriend told reporters that he drove her to the clinic and paid for her abortion after he told her he did not want the baby,” Archer-Krauss said. “And no matter how many times he tries to deceive voters about his support for a national abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest, the fact remains that he went on record in 2022 in favor of exactly that — and we have the receipts to prove it.”
Erickson running again
Erickson, 61, is the CEO of AFMS Consulting, a supply-chain logistics firm based in Tigard he started in 1992 after graduating with a business degree from Portland State University.
This is his fourth run for Congress after three unsuccessful campaigns. Besides the 2022 race, he also ran in 2006 and 2008, losing to Democrat Darlene Hooley first and then Democrat Kurt Schrader. He also ran two unsuccessful campaigns for an Oregon House seat in the 1990s.
Speaking at the Salem forum, Erickson said he’s a “problem-solver” like other CEOs and business owners who face challenges like rising health insurance costs.
He said government regulations should not become overly burdensome in certain areas, like requirements for building permits that can take a year or longer and slow the availability of housing.
“The less governments involved in our lives, the better,” he said. “I think government is there to keep us safe. Education, health care, transportation, all the core basics are important, but sometimes you go too far.”
Touting his experience in logistics and moving freight, he said he would work on increasing the country’s energy independence. High diesel prices drive up costs for businesses and consumers, he said.
He said that could be achieved through projects like the Keystone pipeline, which the Biden administration canceled in 2021 amid environmental concerns. It would have carried crude oil from Alberta into the United States.
In an interview, he said he’s been trying to reach voters by meeting as many people as possible at events like fairs and forums. He estimates he has passed out about 25,000 business cards about his campaign.
“I’m out there almost every day shaking hundreds of hands in different community events throughout the district,” he said. “I think that’s going to be the difference why we may win this election.”
Another difference this election: Larry McFarland, a conservative Constitution Party candidate ran in 2022, garnering more than 6,700 votes. He’s not running this year.
If those votes had gone to Erickson’s column, Salinas would have won by less than 500 votes.
With those factors in play, Erickson believes he stands a chance.
“I’m not doing this because I need a new career,” he said. “I’ve got a great business that I’m proud of, and I enjoy working at.”
Reproductive health
Salinas hammered Erickson on reproductive rights at the forum, saying he has constantly shifted his position.
She said she wants the next generation to enjoy a healthy planet, economy and reproductive rights.
“They deserve the same reproductive freedoms that my opponent’s ex-girlfriend had when he paid for her abortion,” Salinas said.
Later at the forum, Salinas asked Erickson if he would support a bill that would restore the rights of Roe v. Wade, which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned in 2022 and allowed states to impose abortion restrictions.
“I’m not for a national abortion plan where you can’t have abortions nationally,” Erickson said. “So I would vote no to a national abortion plan.”
And he called Salinas’ earlier statement about him paying for an abortion a “low blow.”
“It was just terrible,” he said. “I’ve never asked anybody to get an abortion.”
He did not elaborate. During his 2008 run against Schrader, a former girlfriend of Erickson said in an article in the Oregonian/OregonLive that he paid for her to get an abortion in 2001 and drove her to the clinic. Erickson denied that accusation and said he only drove her to a doctor and gave her $300 without knowing it would pay for an abortion.
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