Oregon’s 5th Congressional District is a notoriously purple constituency, represented for over a decade by NRA-endorsed Democrat Kurt Schrader. Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was elected to represent the District in 2022 but lost to incumbent Democrat Janelle Bynum in 2024 by less than 3%. In 2026, Congresswoman Bynum’s only primary challenger lives far away from the District and poses no electoral threat. The Republican primary field features Deschutes County Commissioner and longtime conservative activist Patti Adair, running against former legislative staffer Jonathan Lockwood, who supported Joe Biden in 2020 and ran for Colorado Republican Party State Chair in 2021.
The Consistent Conservative
While living in California in 2012, Patti Adair contributed hundreds of dollars to the legislative campaign of State Senate candidate Todd Zink, a Marine Corps veteran and prosecutor running on a strong law and order platform. (Fun fact, Zink’s campaign participated in a candidate forum that I organized while attending community college in the LA area.) Adair moved to Oregon not long after, volunteering with the Deschutes County Republican Party and being elected to the Deschutes GOP central committee in 2016.
In 2016, the massive field of GOP Presidential candidates divided Republicans, many of whom supported different candidates before lining up behind Donald Trump. Adair actively participated in the Deschutes County GOP’s election efforts that fall, helping deliver the popular vote in the County for future President Donald Trump, and donating to Trump’s campaign. She was also a Trump delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention alongside two of Jonathan Lockwood’s future employers: Representative Bill Post and Senator Kim Thatcher.
The Earned Media Expert
Jonathan Lockwood led impressive medical freedom advocacy efforts in the 2019 Oregon legislative session, working at the time for Senator Kim Thatcher, former Senator Dennis Linthicum, and former State Representative Bill Post. While initial quarterly reports to the Federal Election Commission show that Lockwood raised no money in the last 6 months, he has steadily increased his following on social media. The career he lists on his website appears impressive:
Lockwood has served as a spokesperson for upward of 70 public figures, executive director of nonprofits, launching two national conservative organizations, state director for a conservative organization in D.C., and was a fellow at four national leading conservative think tanks. Lockwood also sat on the National Policy Board of Advisors for the conservative Heartland Institute.
Rhetoric vs Action
In between achievements as a legislative staffer in Salem and apparently at other institutions, including an anti-vaccine initiative in California with strong ties to the Church of Scientology, Lockwood appeared primed to maintain his trademark bomb-throwing style to appeal to voters. Instead, his campaign messages focus almost entirely on slamming Commissioner Adair for simultaneously being insufficiently conservative and a rubber stamp for President Donald Trump. Half of Lockwood’s voter pamphlet statement for 2026 focuses on Commissioner Adair, insinuating that his opponent supports vaccine mandates, receives pay increases as a Commissioner, and votes for tax hikes. He appears to portray himself as the staunch conservative in the race, even after posting “25 47” on X last July, a progressive dog whistle demanding that the Cabinet of the United States remove President Trump from office. Meanwhile, Commissioner Adair opposes vaccine mandates; she receives approved compensation increases as an elected official in compliance with Oregon Ethics law; and property tax rate limits were permanently set for Deschutes County and all other existing taxing authorities in Oregon following the passage of Measure 50 in 1997.
Lockwood recently started attacking Young Republicans of Oregon after they endorsed Commissioner Adair. YRO’s chair also serves as Commissioner Adair’s campaign manager, but Lockwood was given the same opportunity as Adair to apply for the Young Republicans endorsement. Lockwood ultimately did not apply for the endorsement, which I know because chaired YRO’s Endorsement Committee during this primary, and YRO decided to support Adair at the end of our endorsement process. Lockwood wrote on X on April 2, “the members of YRO support me,” even though YRO’s general membership unanimously voted to endorse Commissioner Adair. Claiming that YRO secretly opposes candidates the we publicly endorse in favor of people who do not request our endorsement merely discredits the claimant.
Even Lockwood has faced spurious allegations from another candidate, Libertarian Joseph Lehman. Congresswoman Janelle Bynum loves to pretend that Donald Trump is “attacking the foundations of our country.” A high temperature conflict in the opposition only serves the incumbent.
Throw bombs all you want. Reagan’s 11th commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,” went out the window when President Donald Trump took over the GOP. But voters deserve honesty from candidates. Making factual assertions easily disproven with simple research is a disservice to voters and a favor to the left. I have been in the same trenches as Commissioner Adair in California and Oregon, and I can tell you from experience that you find few conservative leaders as active and committed as she is to serving her neighbors. This primary, Commissioner Adair will not be misrepresenting her opponent’s record – she will be dialoguing honestly with CD5 residents, because that is what the electorate deserves.
Editor’s Note
Right Now Oregon, LLC President Alex McHaddad is the Treasurer of Young Republicans of Oregon, which unanimously endorsed Commissioner Patti Adair for Congress. Right Now Oregon, LLC has no editorial stance on the CD5 race and does not intend to endorse any candidate.
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