Editor’s note: Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project equips voters with information on how candidates stand on issues through a questionnaire process featured in comparison guides.

Two Candidates are competing for Oregon's 5th Congressional District, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner.

Congressional District 5 may be the most nonsensical and carved out district in the shape of a person holding a firearm. The gerrymandering of the newly created district was criticized by many.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer served as the mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon from 2010 to 2018, after serving on the Happy Valley City Council. Her mayoral election was historic, as she became the first female and first Latina elected to this office. Lori and her husband founded Anesthesia Associates Northwest, and today run several medical clinics throughout the Pacific Northwest. Lori received her Bachelor’s in Business Administration Management from California State University, Fresno.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner lives with her wife in Central Oregon where they raise dogs, goats, and chickens. She claims to be a small business owner and emergency response coordinator that supposedly focuses on communities and protecting natural resources.

McLeod-Skinner is a former union member, she says that she is an outspoken advocate for Oregon’s working people and farm workers.

McLeod-Skinner began her public service managing the repairs of schools and hospitals in Bosnia and Kosovo before returning to the U.S. to manage refugee resettlement programs, work in city and regional planning, and serve on a city council. Jamie holds a Master’s in Regional Planning, and a law degree with a focus on Natural Resources Law.

Chavez-DeRemer sees the homeless crisis affecting cities, towns and communities which she points out raises safety concerns for families and businesses.

Drugs pouring across our southern border are impacting homelessness. Chavez-DeRemer declares, “We must secure the border to stop the influx of crime and drugs.” She sees inflation as a contributor. “With inflation hitting a 40 year high, it has gotten progressively harder to financially get by. This is why we must stand up against the Left’s agenda with Conservative leadership to get our economy back on track and make our country affordable again.”

She continues, “Congress has spent our country into oblivion with record deficit spending. As your Congresswoman, I will always support lower taxes and reigning in spending.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

McLeod-Skinner follows in the footsteps of the rest of the Democrat Party, making the climate crisis, environment, families and democracy her priorities. “We must set policies and create incentives to change this trajectory as well as improve our responses to the resulting disasters.” As for families and economic recovery, she says, “People are struggling with both a health pandemic and an inequity pandemic. We need a responsive government that provides critical physical AND social infrastructure.”

McLeod-Skinner proposes spending more taxpayer dollars in affordable housing, healthcare, homecare, childcare, special and early childhood education, debt-free community college and trade program.

Oregon kids are struggling to catch up from school closures and are now divisive and politically charged issues are being forced into the classroom. Lori Chavez-DeRemer firmly believes Oregon Parents deserve a say in what their children are taught, which is why she supports a Parental Bill of Rights that ensures transparency for school curriculums and protects the rights of parents.

Chavez-DeRemer says, “We must ban the teaching of critical race theory in our schools. Our students should not be learning regressive ideologies that discourage achievements and divides.”

Jamie McLeod-Skinner says that she believes in investing public money.

Investing in protecting our democracy is how we invest in our future and in future generations. She said, congress must step up to protect women’s rights where the Supreme Court has failed. “When in Congress, I will work to codify and protect a woman’s right to choose.”

Chavez-DeRemer stands for protecting the unborn, She states, “A vast majority of Americans want restrictions on abortion and I would be in favor of passing legislation like the heartbeat bill.”

There is a clear difference between these two candidates, and most notable is their understanding of the Constitution. Chavez-DeRemer seems to affirm our Republic form of government in the U.S. Constitution, the Second Amendment and the Bill of Rights. McLeod-Skinner describes “protecting our democracy” as wealth redistribution, stating “our fundamental decency is rightfully questioned when we leave this undone and leave people behind.”


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2022-08-27 12:14:10

Last Update: 2022-08-27 12:40:49