Oregon — Oregon’s fifth congressional district (CD5) seat is currently held by Janelle Bynum (D) who won out over Republican incumbent, and now Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer in 2024, with a 47.7% to 45% split. The race was high-profile in both 2022 and 2024. When Chavez-DeRemer won the seat in 2022 by defeating Progressive Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner with a split of 50.9% to 48.8% it played a significant role in Republicans gaining a slim majority in the US House. Following that the 2024 election was hotly contested as holding the seat would have helped secure a larger majority in congress and placed more of a foothold for Republicans in Oregon.
A total of around $13.5 million was raised in 2024 with Chavez-DeRemer receiving around $6 million and Bynum bringing in around $7.5 million. With Bynum entering the 2026 contest as an incumbent, the party in the White House typically doing worse in mid-term elections, continued Democrat dominance in Oregon, and opposition to Trump typically activating Democrat voters, the candidate who emerges from the Republican primary election will have a difficult job threading the needle to unseat Bynum.
The district covers portions of Clackamas, Deschutes, Jefferson, Linn, Marion, and Multnomah Counties with Democrats having a registration advantage 168,505 to 145,748 as of September 2025. The district is a D+3 to D+4 district. As a former mayor in the area Chavez-DeRemer was able to focus her 2022 campaign locally and gain some momentum from the unpopularity of Democrats at the time. The Republican candidate this cycle will have to find both a strategy and the funding to make this race competitive, a real challenge in the current political climate. In 2024 Trump received around 40% of the vote in Oregon with Harris receiving 56%, the influence of national politics at present may add to the headwinds for any Republican candidate in the district.
Thus far three candidates have filed for the Republican primary, more candidates could yet enter the race as the deadline to file is 5 PM on March 3, 2026. Jonathan Lockwood, Patti Adair, and Jo Rae Perkins have all filed their candidacies.
The most recently filed Jo Rae Perkins is a familiar face for Oregon Republicans. She ran for Congressional District 4 in 2016 and 2018, US senate in 2020 and 2022, and for local positions in previous years. Most recently she served as the Secretary for the Oregon Republican Party (2023-2025). While she has successfully won previous primary races she has never won a general election. In 2022 she edged out Darin Harbick in the primary by 8,000 votes to then lose to incumbent Ron Wyden (D) 55.8% to 40.9% a gap of nearly 15%. In 2020 Perkins lost to Oregon’s other longtime senator Jeff Merkley 56.9% to 39.3% a gap of almost 18%. FEC data shows that in the most recent contest for senate in 2022 Perkins raised $125,792 a sharp contrast to Wyden’s $14 million.
UPDATE: On 2/2/2026 Perkins updated her filing to US Senate instead of CD5.
Candidate Jonathan Lockwood announced his campaign on 10/8/2025. He has a background in politics and government having previously served as a legislative staffer with the Oregon Legislature. Linn County Republican Jonathan Lockwood comes to the race with over a decade of experience as an executive and spokesperson in Republican politics, and also served as consultant, advisor and spokesperson for tribal leaders, attorneys, executives and other public figures. Lockwood has drawn criticism in Republican circles for a 2020 opinion piece in the Denver Post where he announced he was voting Biden-Harris.
Patti Adair is currently serving in Deschutes County as a County Commissioner. a sitting Deschutes County Commissioner, brings executive and local governance experience to the race, along with a base in one of the district’s key counties. Moving from county government to a competitive congressional race will require her to broaden her appeal beyond Central Oregon while navigating scrutiny of her local record. Adair has received public criticism from more left-leaning constituents and in a congressional district where registered democrats outnumber registered Republicans Adair will need to find a way to bridge the gap.
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