Oregon Congressional Candidates in Swing District Clash Over Abortion, Immigration in Debate

First-term Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democratic challenger Janelle Bynum sparred over abortion, immigration, and crime during their first of three debates on Oct. 8.

The two differed on the issues that make Oregon’s 5th Congressional District—a swing district considered a tossup by the Cook Political Report—one of the most competitive races in the country. It is one of a handful of districts that could help Republicans hold their razor-thin advantage in the U.S. House or allow Democrats to take it back.

The first Republican to represent the district in decades, Chavez-DeRemer is the former mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, and a business owner. Bynum is a business owner who served in the state Legislature from 2017 until she resigned last year to field her run for Congress.

In the hour-long debate aired on Portland’s KOIN TV, Chavez-DeRemer called Bynum soft on crime and vowed to secure the border, lower inflation, and protect Oregonians from crime and chaos.

Bynum repeatedly criticized Chavez-DeRemer for her support of former President Donald Trump. She said her top priority would be to codify Roe v. Wade and claimed her opponent would vote for a nationwide abortion ban.

Abortion on the Ballot?

Though Oregon currently has no legal restrictions on abortion, Bynum has campaigned on the threat of a national abortion ban.

If elected, she said one of her first priorities would be to pass legislation to “codify Roe” and restore the federal rights under Roe v. Wade. She said Chavez-DeRemer has “promised to uphold Roe and yet she has voted 13 times on bills that essentially would pass a national abortion ban.”

She also accused DeRemer of supporting the “heartbeat bill,” the common name for a law that makes abortion illegal after the first six weeks, when a heartbeat can be detected.

Chavez-DeRemer called that an “outright lie.”

“There was no vote on a heartbeat bill, so I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Chavez-DeRemer replied.

The congresswoman said she would not support a federal ban, calling it a “moot point” because it will “never come to a vote in the House.”

Since the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, she said the issue is “now up to the states and Oregonians have spoken.”

“Oregonians have said they want access to abortion at whatever time they choose,” she said. “I will protect their access” and will “not stand up for a federal ban.”

Drugs and Mental Health

Debate moderators asked Bynum if supporting Oregon’s Ballot Measure 110 was a mistake. That voter-approved measure, which decriminalized hard drugs and is widely blamed for the state’s drug addiction and overdose crisis, was rolled back in April after three years.

Bynum said she supported Measure 110 because she believed Oregonians “wanted a compassionate response” to the crises in their communities, including inadequate mental health support and “not having addiction and drug treatment programs.”

“We saw what didn’t work and we overturned it,” and are now “growing the number of healthcare providers to offer mental health services,” Bynum said.

She said she now feels the state is “on the right track,” and noted her support for a bill that provided “$80 million to increase the number of mental health providers in the state.”

Chavez-DeRemer called Measure 110 a “failed experiment” and said “people are dead because of it.”

“We’re seeing more overdoses in Oregon than we’ve ever seen,” she said.

Although voters approved the bill, Chavez-DeRemer said they “were sold a bill of goods” and “Bynum led that effort.”

In addition to passing a bill to expand the mental health provider workforce, Chavez-DeRemer said more needs to be done to secure the border and stop the flow of drugs into the United States.

Immigration and Border Security

Chavez-DeRemer said the nation needs to secure its southern border to address illegal immigration, stop the flow of fentanyl, and ensure national security.

“Millions of people have come across our southern border and we don’t know who they are,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “That includes people on the terror watch list and it’s very concerning.”

“We need immigration reform, but we also need to secure our border, and we shouldn’t conflate those issues,” she said. “We need a pathway to citizenship and that should be a bipartisan issue.”

Bynum advocated for “fast, fair, and final hearings for those at our borders,” adding that she would not “scapegoat immigrants who fuel our economy and enrich our culture.”

She argued that Trump “stopped the bipartisan border agreement and Chavez-DeRemer supports Trump,” claiming that the congresswoman “rubber stamps his agenda and rubber stamps his ideas.”

Chavez-DeRemer said the claim that she did not support the border bill was “another outright lie.”

She said the bill that Bynum referenced “never even came to the House floor,” and she “did not even have a chance to vote on it.”

Bynum said a border agreement is needed regardless.

“Throwing up your hands and saying ‘I couldn’t vote on it’ is not an excuse we should accept,” Bynum said.

Chavez-DeRemer responded: “Except that’s how we make laws. If it doesn’t come to the floor, we can’t vote.”

The two agreed on the need to support farmers and ranchers in the district who rely on immigrant labor and need policies they can count on.

The Big Picture

The moderators pointed out that candidates would have to be bipartisan if they were to represent the narrowly divided district.

More than 187,000 of the district’s voters are nonaffiliated, followed by 170,000 Democrats and almost 145,000 Republicans, according to the Oregon secretary of state’s April 2024 voter registration data.

Democratic President Joe Biden won the district by 9 points in 2020, but Chavez-DeRemer clinched it by 2.1 points in 2022.

Both parties are targeting November 5th. In the weeks before Tuesday’s face-off, high-profile politicians stumped in the district for both candidates, an indication of its importance.

House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Portland in August to support Chavez-DeRemer, who endorsed his bid for speaker in 2023.

In an Oct. 2 visit to the state, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries praised Bynum’s work as a state legislator.

When Chavez-DeRemer spoke at the 10th Annual Reagan Dinner in Portland on Sept. 28, she was joined by Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana and former All-American swimmer Riley Marie Gaines, who has been advocating against transgender women participating in women’s sports.

The candidates will debate again on Oct. 10 and 15.