A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2022
OREGON
East vs. West meets left vs. right in congressional race
BY GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
On the left, Terrebonne attorney
Jamie McLeod-Skinner, the pro-
gressive Democrat who vanquished
seven-term U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader,
D-Canby, in the May primary.
On the right, former Happy Val-
ley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer,
the conservative Republican with
hopes of flipping the seat to the
GOP.
Polarized politics isn’t the only
rift in the 5th Congressional Dis-
trict. There’s the looming mass of
the Cascade Mountains that cleaves
the district into western and eastern
portions. It’s tied together by a thin
ribbon of blacktop on U.S. Highway
20 as it crosses the Santiam Pass at
4,817 feet.
By the general election on Nov. 8,
the candidates will have to simulta-
neously track their poll numbers and
the chances for black ice or snow
drifts on their campaign routes.
The 5th district was created by
Democratic legislators last autumn
in an effort to tie the bulging num-
ber of Democratic votes isolated in
Bend with like-minded voters far
to the northwest. The resulting seat
stretches from Portland in Mult-
nomah County to Sunriver in De-
schutes County.
The Democratic and Republi-
can primaries featured one candi-
date from each side of the moun-
tains. When McLeod-Skinner upset
Schrader and Chavez-DeRemer beat
Jimmy Crumpacker of Bend, it set
up the left vs. right, west vs. east race
in the district with the slimmest par-
Big Ten
Continued from A5
is the most established of the
conference networks.
USC and UCLA would be
taking a step up in football,
both in visibility and compe-
tition.
“Pac-12 After Dark” tele-
vised games that kick off in
the middle to late evenings
in most of the country have
made it difficult for the con-
ference to get exposure. The
Pac-12 has had teams in the
College Football Playoff just
twice — Oregon (2014 season)
and Washington (2016).
USC President Carol L. Folt
said she and university leaders
considered the coast-to-coast
travel that will come with
Submitted photos
The major party candidates vying to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District,
Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, left, and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
tisan division in the state. The Cook
Political Report, a widely read po-
litical forecasting website, puts the
Democratic tilt at just 6%.
Both primaries were closed, with
only party members allowed to cast
ballots to pick a nominee.
Democrats chose McLeod-Skin-
ner, a liberal who is pro-choice,
supports gun control efforts and
backs President Joe Biden’s agenda
of expanded aid to help Amer-
icans through the tumult of the
COVID-19 pandemic. She sup-
ported public health restrictions to
curb the spread of the pandemic.
Republicans picked Chavez-
DeRemer, a conservative who is an-
ti-abortion, supports gun rights and
blames Biden’s spending decisions
for steeply rising inflation, including
competing in the Big Ten.
Nebraska is the westernmost
school in the conference now,
and Lincoln is almost 1,500
miles from Los Angeles. Rut-
gers, the easternmost Big Ten
school, is a nearly 5 1/2-hour
flight from LA.
“We are fortunate we can
spend the next two years
working with the confer-
ence on travel and scheduling
plans,” Folt said.
The Big Ten, Pac-12 and At-
lantic Coast Conference last
August formed an alliance in
the wake of Oklahoma and
Texas joining the SEC. The
conferences said the 41 mem-
bers would take a collabora-
tive approach to charting the
future of athletics. The three
conferences set up scheduling
high gas prices. She’s opposed most
COVID-19 restrictions as govern-
ment over-reach.
They also highly contrast with
their political surroundings. Chavez-
DeRemer’s home is in Clackamas
County, less than 10 miles from the
Democratic stronghold of Portland.
McLeod-Skinner is in the sparsely
populated High Desert plateau east
of the mountains, with thousands of
square miles to the north, east and
south sprinkled with steadfastly Re-
publican communities.
Both candidates say they will hold
their side of the mountains and run
strong on the other candidate’s turf.
“I’ve raised my kids in Clackamas
and have built a small business right
here as well,” Chavez-DeRemer said
“I’ve made long-lasting relationships
arrangements in some sports
and have pooled resources to
promote athlete welfare.
Less than a year later, the
future of the alliance would
appear bleak with the Big Ten
taking two of the Pac-12’s big-
gest brands.
USC and UCLA will be
severing longstanding confer-
ence relationships. USC joined
California, Oregon, Oregon
State, Stanford, Washington
and Washington State in the
Pacific Coast Conference in
1922, followed by UCLA in
1928.
They went together in 1959
to the Athletic Association of
Western Universities, which
became the Pac-8 in 1968, the
Pac-10 in 1978 and Pac-12 in
2011.
with key partners in the county. Vot-
ers in Clackamas know my track re-
cord of common-sense leadership
and know how much time I’ve put
into giving back to our wonderful
community.”
Chavez-DeRemer started making
forays over the mountains to De-
schutes County almost a year ago.
“We won our primary decisively,
sweeping every county and having
a strong win in Deschutes County
too,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “I’ve
campaigned in Deschutes County
at least twice a week since we an-
nounced in July 2021, doing meet
and greets and knocking on doors,
and we certainly won’t slow down.”
Chavez-DeRemer has reached
out to Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond,
the outgoing state representative for
much of the congressional district’s
eastern side. She’s also garnered sup-
port from Deschutes County Com-
missioner Tony DeBone and Red-
mond Mayor George Endicott.
McLeod-Skinner remains confi-
dent that she can hold the loyalty of
most voters on the east side of the
Cascades.
“People know me in Deschutes
County,” she said. “They saw my
campaigns, they see me around
town. This is my home.”
McLeod-Skinner ran a high-pro-
file race against former U.S. Rep.
Greg Walden, R-Hood River, in 2018
in the heavily Republican 2nd Con-
gressional District that at the time
included Bend and portions of De-
schutes County. She lost, but held
Walden to just over 56% of the vote,
the lowest re-election vote in his 20
Timbers
Continued from A5
down in the box, giving
Portland a penalty kick in
the 34th minute. Moreno
converted for a 1-0 lead.
“I felt very confident,”
Moreno said through a
translator. “Any time I have
a chance like that I feel
very comfortable that I will
score.”
Just moments later,
Moreno beat Houston goal-
keeper Steve Clark with a
left-footed shot for his third
goal of the season. It was his
first career two-goal game.
Moreno nearly had a hat
years in Congress.
McLeod-Skinner did receive
some statewide exposure when she
ran for secretary of state in 2020.
But her campaign was lost in the
din of the fight between two Port-
land political powerhouses serving
in the state Senate. Shemia Fagan
defeated Mark Hass, with Mc-
Leod-Skinner coming in third. She
garnered Democratic endorsement
for the west side of the mountains
even before defeating Schrader. Her
endorsement list now runs like a
political who’s-who of U.S. Senators,
former governors, state and local
officials from Portland and counties
to the south.
The west side of the Cascades will
be a challenge — it contains the bulk
of 5th district voters.
But the political split favors a
Democrat. Republicans have called
her a “socialist” and Schrader sug-
gested after her victory that it was a
sign of a “socialist” trend in Oregon
Democrats. McLeod-Skinner’s ami-
able, casual approach in personal
appearances is honed from years of
campaigning in sometimes hostile
political territory.
One issue unlikely to play a big
role in the race: Neither candidate
technically lives in the 5th district —
they can’t even vote for themselves.
Under the U.S. Constitution, House
members don’t have to reside in their
district, just the state. But in polit-
ical advertising, such legal distinc-
tions have easily been muddied in
congressional campaigns around the
nation. But in the 5th district, it’s a
lose-lose topic.
trick in the 63rd minute but
Clark stopped it at the right
post. Clark, who played for
the Timbers from 2018 un-
til last year, made his 200th
career MLS appearance.
The Timbers (5-6-7) have
never had a player score a
hat trick in an MLS match.
Houston (6-8-3) nar-
rowed the deficit in the 65th
minute on Quintero’s arcing
shot from outside the box.
It was his seventh goal of
the year.
“I think the general feel-
ing is right now that we
deserved more. We know
this is a good team at home,
but I felt like the way the
game played out, I think
we deserved to at least to
get tie here,” said Houston
defender Adam Lundqvist
said.
The Dynamo were com-
ing off a 2-0 victory at home
over the Chicago Fire on
Saturday. The win snapped
a three-game losing streak.
The Timbers defeated
the Colorado Rapids 3-0 on
June 25 to snap a four-game
winless streak.
There were nine yellow
cards handed out in the
match, which was chippy
at times. Portland’s Bill Tu-
iloma was sent off after his
second yellow in the 75th.
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