Bynum shows 2% lead over Chavez-Deremer in Oregon’s 5th District race

OREGON CITY Ore. (KPTV) - Janell Bynum has a lead of more than 2%, or nearly 8,000 votes, over incumbent Lori Chavez-Deremer in the race for Oregon's Congressional District 5, as of Wednesday.

This number was shown in the latest release of votes on Wednesday evening, according to estimates from the Associated Press.

When the first round of results was released on Tuesday evening, Bynum was in the lead by around 7,000 votes with nearly 70% of the votes counted.

On Wednesday, FOX 12 visited Oregon City to speak to voters. Crews approached more than 50 people for interviews, but many were nervous to speak on the issue.

Several Janelle Bynum voters, who did not want to appear on camera, said they felt hopeful and glad to see she might be taking a lead.

Other voters spoke about their distaste for the contentious, combative campaign the two candidates ran.

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Victoria Luchterhand lives near Oregon City, and said while she wasn't sure about Lori Chavez-Deremer the first time around, she's now in full support.

"To me, she's proven to really represent us," she said. "One of the things Lori does is she's constantly going wherever in the district and talking to people and doing things...wow this woman actually is serving us, and I think that's really cool."

Voter Jeremy Burke said he supports Chavez-Deremer due to her support for community safety and police, but said he feels overall satisfied no matter what due to the state of national politics.

"I wouldn't let it bother me too much, Republicans got control of the Senate and the presidency and I'm thrilled about that," Burke said. "I'm feeling pretty good, regardless of what the outcome over here is."

Back in 2022, Chavez-Deremer flipped the district red after Democrat Kurt Schrader held the seat for seven terms.

John Horvick, the senior vice president of DHM Research, said there are more Democratic voters in the district, and on top of those natural advantages, third-party candidates have taken votes in some of Chavez-Deremer's key counties.

"Linn County is where Lori Chavez-Deremer needs to do really well, there's a lot of Republicans, but she's significantly down right now, relative to where she was two years ago and it seems to be pulled away by those third-party candidates, particularly the independent," Horvick said.

He said a surplus of non-affiliated voters in the presidential election could also contribute to the sway, and an even bigger impact on the battle for control of the House of Representatives.

"Either party needs every single win that they could get," Horvick said. "Obviously, having the majority in the House of Representatives means just about everything, but if you can have even a slightly bigger majority or be in the minority slightly less, these things matter. So regardless of who holds control of the House of Representatives, margins matter, and this district, this race will affect that."