A new political action committee poured $350,000 into a key Oregon congressional district just days ahead of the May 21 Democratic primary, raising questions about whether Republicans are trying to tilt the scales.
The race features state Rep. Janelle Bynum of Happy Valley and attorney and engineer Jamie McLeod-Skinner of rural Deschutes County. Voting concludes Tuesday.
The Democrats are vying to compete against Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a first-term Republican lawmaker who narrowly won the 2022 election over McLeod-Skinner.
The fall contest is viewed as one of the most competitive in the nation and will draw a huge amount of resources as the two major political parties vie for control of the House. The district, was significantly redrawn since President Joe Biden won there in 2020, is one of 16 won he won that year that are now represented by a Republican in the House.
The new super PAC called Health Equity Now has reserved about $352,000 in advertising in Oregon markets with spots supporting McLeod-Skinner, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. The ads began running in the Portland market on Wednesday and state that McLeod-Skinner is “putting progressive values into action” by supporting Medicare for all and “taking the fight to insurance companies.”
The group behind the ads registered with the Federal Election Commission on May 3. It won’t need to disclose its donors until after the election, avoiding giving the voters information about who — or what interest group — is behind the late-breaking wave of cash. But one factor that has raised questions among Democrats is that the firm placing the ad buys, Fidi Media LLC, has traditionally been employed by Republican candidates, FEC records show.
Trevor Kowalski is listed as treasurer for Health Equity Now and citing an address at a Salem mailing facility. A person named Trevor Kowalski served as an official for a political committee that raised money for former football player Herschel Walker in 2022 when he ran for the U.S. Senate in Georgia as a Republican.
Those clues have the campaign for Bynum crying foul, with a spokesperson saying the ad buys “certainly looks like there are ties to Republicans.”
Blakely Wall, a spokesperson for the Bynum campaign, claims the Republicans see McLeod-Skinner as a weaker opponent to Chavez-DeRemer. “Let us be crystal clear, Jamie McLeod-Skinner is House Republicans’ dream opponent because they know they can beat her -- making this shady GOP election meddling in a Democratic primary all the more alarming,” Wall said.
McLeod-Skinner said she didn’t know about the group but the substance of their message in the ads is accurate.
“While I’ve never heard of this group and don’t support undisclosed money in our elections, it’s absolutely true that I believe everyone should have high-quality, affordable physical and mental healthcare,” McLeod-Skinner said in an emailed statement.
The campaign arm for congressional Democrats has not formally endorsed in the race, but it has placed Bynum on its “Red to Blue” list, which provides top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support. Bynum has twice beaten the Republican incumbent, Chavez-DeRemer, in a more Democrat-heavy district in previous races for the Oregon House.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has not placed McLeod-Skinner on that list. An undisputed progressive, McLeod-Skinner knocked off a longtime moderate Democratic member of Congress, then U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, in 2022 only to narrowly lose in the general election to Chavez-DeRemer.
Prior to the Healthy Equity ad buys, outside spending in the Democratic primary has favored Bynum, with more than $1.2 million flowing through independent expenditures to boost Bynum or oppose McLeod-Skinner.
Whoever emerges from the primary will face a well-financed Republican incumbent in Chavez-DeRemer. She had nearly $1.9 million in cash on hand as of May 1, FEC records show.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson of Virginia, chairman of the campaign arm for House Republicans, said he had no knowledge of Republicans getting involved in the Democratic primary, and said he had not heard of the group Health Equity Now or that they were running ads.
“I don’t get involved in primaries, especially Democratic primaries,” Hudson said.
-- The Associated Press. Oregonian/OregonLive politics reporter Sami Edge contributed to this report.
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