Oregon – Representative Cyrus Javadi (HD-32 Tillamook) announced in a post on Facebook that he is running for reelection but is switching parties from Republican to Democrat. Rep. Javadi recently came under scrutiny from Republicans with his support of Governor Kotek’s proposal for transportation funding which includes billions of dollars in tax increases via hikes in gas taxes, payroll tax, and registration and licensing fees.
In the 2024 election Rep. Javadi narrowly beat the Democrat challenger Andy Davis by about 1,700 votes, just 4% of the total votes cast. The latest voter registration data, August 2025, from the Oregon Secretary of State shows HD-32 to have 16,419 registered Democrats and 14,029 Republicans, which would seemingly give an advantage to a candidate running on the Democratic ticket.
Rep. Javadi said the following in his post:
Had Enough? I have.
That’s why I’m running for re-election…
As a Democrat.
I’m not running from a fight. If I wanted to avoid a tough primary, I’d have kept my head down and voted “no” like I was told. Instead, I voted for what I believed was right, and that’s what put me in this fight in the first place.
I didn’t run for office to chant slogans or toe a party line.
I ran to solve problems that don’t check voter registration before they land on our doorstep.
I ran to keep hospitals open, because when your kid can’t breathe or your parent needs an ambulance, it doesn’t matter what party you’re in.
I ran to fix roads and bridges, because a pothole doesn’t ask if you voted red or blue before it blows out your tire.
I ran to expand housing, because teachers, cops, and young families all need a place to live in the communities they serve.
I ran because safe neighborhoods aren’t a partisan talking point, they’re the foundation for everything else.
And I ran to defend free speech, because the Constitution protects all of us, even when we disagree, and especially when it’s uncomfortable.
Somewhere along the way, my party stopped caring about those things. I haven’t changed. They have.
And if you think this kind of politics is worth defending, I’d be grateful for your support in this re-election campaign.
One of Rep. Javadi’s House Republican colleagues Ed Diehl challenged Javadi about a post on Substack. Representative Diehl (R-HD17) wrote the following in a post on Facebook:
I feel compelled to respond to my colleague’s recent substack explaining his yes vote for the transportation tax bill.
Representative Cyrus Javadi , you say politics is about “the art of the possible” — but what we just witnessed wasn’t art, it was the theater of the absurd.
The Governor manufactured a crisis: either pass her tax hikes or lay off workers. That’s not a real choice, that’s political theater. And 94% of Oregonians who testified saw through it and said no. They were ignored. That’s not persuasion, not compromise, not trust-building. That’s steamrolling ordinary people in service of the powerful and well-connected.
Siding with this bill did the opposite of getting “government out of the way of my neighbor who works hard every day”. It saddles those neighbors — families, small businesses, rural communities — with higher costs while ODOT keeps pouring money into bloated megaprojects and climate vanity schemes.
You warn us not to reward politics that’s “about spectacle and domination.” I agree. Yet that’s what this bill was: top-down, insider-driven, pushed through against overwhelming public opposition. The forgotten Oregonians were steamrolled — by the very Governor and allies who now claim it was “the art of the possible.”
The Governor and legislative leaders call HB 3991 a “compromise.” But let’s be honest about who was actually at the table. They didn’t compromise with the 94% of Oregonians who testified against the bill. They didn’t compromise with working families, small businesses, or rural communities who will pay the price. The so-called compromise was with their environmental left and the network of special interests that never miss a chance to grab more tax dollars.
Real compromise means listening to the people you represent and finding common ground with them. HB 3991 wasn’t a compromise — it was a deal cut behind closed doors that left forgotten Oregonians on the outside looking in.
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