After a walk-out threat from Republicans was not carried through, both houses of the Oregon legislature passed the new six-district congressional map and re-draws of the state House and Senate plans. Gov. Kate Brown (D) immediately signed the bills making Oregon the first state to complete 2020 census redistricting.
The congressional map creates two Portland area safe Democratic seats, for Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Washington County) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) and one safe Republican district for freshman Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ontario). The remaining three districts all lean the Democrats’ way, but none can be considered safe. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield), after only scoring 51.5% in the 2020 election, sees his district improve by about five percentage points. On the other hand, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) finds his 5th District splitting in half, with most of his territory forming the heart of the new 6th District. The 5th, which will now stretch to the Bend community from the Salem metro area, becomes a competitive seat, only slightly leaning toward Rep. Schrader. The new 6th CD is more Democratic but could also be competitive with a viable Republican candidate in a good GOP year. The idea was to stretch the map to elect five Democrats and one Republican, but the Democratic map drawers may have pushed too far. Expect Rep. Schrader to have a difficult road to re-election and a political battle to form over the new 6th. Comments are closed.
|
The Rundown BlogLearn more about the candidates running in key elections across the United States. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|
|
BIPAC© 2022 BIPAC. All rights reserved
|