Current:Home > InvestDemocrat Janelle Bynum flips Oregon’s 5th District, will be state’s first Black member of Congress -VisionFunds
Democrat Janelle Bynum flips Oregon’s 5th District, will be state’s first Black member of Congress
View
Date:2025-04-12 13:29:02
Follow AP’s coverage of the election and what happens next.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Democrat Janelle Bynum has flipped Oregon’s 5th Congressional District and will become the state’s first Black member of Congress.
Bynum, a state representative who was backed and funded by national Democrats, ousted freshman GOP U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Republicans lost a seat that they flipped red for the first time in roughly 25 years during the 2022 midterms.
“It’s not lost on me that I am one generation removed from segregation. It’s not lost on me that we’re making history. And I am proud to be the first, but not the last, Black member of Congress in Oregon,” Bynum said at a press conference last Friday. “But it took all of us working together to flip this seat, and we delivered a win for Oregon. We believed in a vision and we didn’t take our feet off the gas until we accomplished our goals.”
The contest was seen as a GOP toss up by the Cook Political Report, meaning either party had a good chance of winning.
Bynum had previously defeated Chavez-DeRemer when they faced off in state legislative elections.
Chavez-DeRemer narrowly won the seat in 2022, which was the first election held in the district after its boundaries were significantly redrawn following the 2020 census.
The district now encompasses disparate regions spanning metro Portland and its wealthy and working-class suburbs, as well as rural agricultural and mountain communities and the fast-growing central Oregon city of Bend on the other side of the Cascade Range. Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by about 25,000 in the district, but unaffiliated voters represent the largest constituency.
A small part of the district is in Multnomah County, where a ballot box just outside the county elections office in Portland was set on fire by an incendiary device about a week before the election, damaging three ballots. Authorities said that enough material from the incendiary device was recovered to show that the Portland fire was also connected to two other ballot drop box fires in neighboring Vancouver, Washington, one of which occurred on the same day as the Portland fire and damaged hundreds of ballots.
veryGood! (77)
Related
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- All Eyes Are on Cardi B and Offset's PDA at the 2023 MTV VMAs
- Michigan deputy suffers serious head injury in struggle with suspect
- Look Back on Kelsea Ballerini and Chase Stokes' Cutest Pics
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Rep. Barbara Lee says California Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan for Senate seat is insulting
- Vanderpump Rules' Tom Sandoval Says He Misses Friend Raquel Leviss in Birthday Note
- Lawsuit accuses Beverly Hills police of racially profiling Black motorists
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Updated Ford F-150 gets new grille, other features as Ford shows it off on eve of Detroit auto show
Ranking
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Venice may be put on the endangered list, thanks to human-created climate change
- Federal judge dismisses racial discrimination lawsuit filed by former Wilmington police officer
- Iran identifies 5 prisoners it wants from US in swap for Iranian-Americans and billions in assets
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Ex-NFL receiver Mike Williams dies 2 weeks after being injured in construction accident
- What’s ahead now that Republicans are opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden
- Defense Department awards $20.6 million to support nickel prospecting in Minnesota and Michigan
Recommendation
See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
Slave descendants vow to fight on after Georgia county approves larger homes for island enclave
Hurricane Lee swirls through open waters on a path to Atlantic Canada
How an extramarital affair factors into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial
Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
NASA astronaut breaks record for longest trip to space by an American
Latvia grows worried over a surge of migrants attempting to cross from Belarus
McCarthy directs committees to launch impeachment inquiry into Biden. Here's what that means