Oregon voters will decide several heated primaries Tuesday, and a key theme has emerged – progressive Democrats and candidates more closely aligned to establishment politics are battling head-to-head.
Portland-centered Multnomah County’s progressive District Attorney Mike Schmidt is facing a challenger from within his own office — Senior Deputy District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, who has the backing of several law enforcement groups.
Schmidt took office in 2020 after police killed George Floyd in Minnesota and set off a massive protest movement in Portland and across the country.
Vasquez has portrayed himself as a “tough on crime” candidate who will fight back against record-high crime rates and drug overdoses, among other issues that have struck Portland especially hard.
“Beginning in about 2020, you see this rise of the progressive prosecutor,” Todd Lochner, associate professor in Lewis & Clark College’s department of political science, told The Associated Press. “But some of those candidates were essentially replaced or recalled, and I think what’s going on now in the DA’s race has something to do with this backlash to what is perceived, correctly or incorrectly, as prosecutors who are not as zealous in convicting people as some might prefer.”
Portland is also the epicenter of a safe Democratic House seat left vacant by Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s (D-Ore.) decision to retire after nearly three decades.
Three Democrats — Susheela Jayapal, Maxine Dexter and Eddy Morales — are jockeying for the seat. Jaypal, a former county official and the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and her campaign has sought to play up her progressive backers in the three-way match.
Dexter, a state representative since 2020, also has highlighted her progressive politics in her campaign, including her positions on environmental policies, health care initiatives, reproductive rights and workers ‘rights. But Dexter’s critics have sought to link her to more establishment politics and big-money influences.
Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner's critics have raised similar concerns about her links to establishment politicians and Republican-backed sources, in the Oregon House primary she faces against Janelle Bynum Tuesday.
The winner will face Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who beat McLeod-Skinner in 2022 by about 7,300 votes.
According to Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade, turnout has been slightly down this year in the state, compared to 2022, with about 20 percent of registered voters already casting early ballots as of Monday.
"Voters are increasingly waiting until the very end of the voting window to cast their ballots," Griffin-Valade's office concluded in a news release.
Oregon Republicans and Democrats hold closed primaries, so only voters with registered party affiliation can weigh in on the parties' respective candidates.
