PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – In a race that could flip control in the U.S. House of Representatives, KOIN 6 News hosted a debate Tuesday night between Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Janelle Bynum as they battle for the Fifth District seat.
Incumbent Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the first Republican to represent the Fifth District in decades, is looking to hold onto her seat from challenger Janelle Bynum.
Chavez-DeRemer is a first-term congresswoman, and the former mayor of Happy Valley and Bynum is a business owner and served in the Oregon State Legislature since 2017.
Below are some of the key issues discussed during the debate.
Abortion access
Two years after the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections under Roe v. Wade, KOIN 6 News asked the candidates if they would support a bill upholding federal abortion protections.
Rep. Chavez-DeRemer supported the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and has also said she supports a woman’s right to choose. During the debate, the congresswoman said while abortion access has become a state issue, she will continue to support abortion access in Oregon.
“I would not stand for a federal ban. I have spoken out against that, but the Supreme Court has ruled that it’s now in the hands of the states. We won’t listen to this on the House floor,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “I stood up against HR 7 when they wanted to have a conversation about it because Oregonians have spoken. I made it clear; I stood on stage two years ago, I made a promise to Oregonians. I’m never too pro-choice for the left, I’m never pro-life enough for the right where most Americans are. They said they want access; I will not break that promise and I will protect access to abortion.”
In her response, Bynum said one of her first priorities, if elected, would be to codify abortion protections under Roe v. Wade, adding, “We all know Republican’s number one option right now is to make sure that abortion is not available across the country.”
VIDEO: 100 raccoons swarm Washington woman’s home demanding food Measure 110
During the debate, KOIN 6 News asked Bynum if supporting drug decriminalization Measure 110, which was approved by voters, was a mistake since lawmakers rolled it back in the last legislative session.
Bynum, who supported the measure said, “I believe Oregonians passed Measure 110 overwhelmingly because they wanted a compassionate response to the crisis that they were seeing in their communities — people not having enough mental health support, not having addiction and drug treatment programs.”
“What I am really proud of is we have taken that feedback we saw what didn’t work, we overturned it,” Bynum said, adding she thinks Oregon is “on the right track.” Bynum noted her support for a bill that provided $80 million to bolster the number of mental health providers in the state.
In response, Chavez-DeRemer called Measure 110 a “failed experiment.”
“While the voters voted on it, they were sold a bill of goods and they were sold that by their champions and their leaders,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “We’re seeing more overdoses in Oregon than we’ve ever seen, we’re seeing people who are suffering. Yes, we need to address the mental health and drug addiction crisis but Measure 110 was a failed policy, our law enforcement were not supported in this issue. They begged for their leaders to step up.”
In addition to passing a bill to bolster the mental health provider workforce, Chavez-DeRemer said more needs to be done to secure the border and stop the flow of drugs into the U.S.
Multnomah County may resume tent-tarp handouts Housing
Amid the affordable housing crisis, and inflation, KOIN 6 News asked the candidates how they would address housing issues.
Bynum said it’s important to ensure there’s enough housing supply and praised the Oregon CHIPS Act for helping bolster the state’s economy by investing in the semiconductor industry.
“When I worked on the CHIPS Act… one of the things that was asked was where are we going to put all these workers?” Bynum explained, noting the CHIPS Act will generate about $43 billion in economic activity. “We know that we need starter homes, we know that we need a whole range of housing for them.”
“We found that we had land for housing, but we didn’t have the infrastructure for housing. So, it’s not just enough to say that we need financing vehicles for first-time homeowners, we actually need the land, we need the infrastructure, and we need the will to build thousands of houses very rapidly,” Bynum said.
Chavez-DeRemer responded, “To address the land use issues in Oregon is a statewide issue and they have not done that and now people are suffering.”
“What I have done to make sure that we help our young people or families that are looking for housing or workforce housing for businesses, the Choice in Affordable Housing Act, which I sponsored. Also, expanding vouchers for rentals, which I have worked for with HUD to do just that. Child tax credits are important for families to make sure that they can afford their rent and child tax credits for dependents as well,” she continued.
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Eye on Northwest Politics
Bipartisanship
KOIN 6 News asked which issues the candidates will work across the aisle on as the Fifth District has 200,000 independent voters.
In response, Bynum pledged to serve the district in a bipartisan manner, noting she worked with Republican colleagues to pass the Oregon CHIPS Act, adding, “what people have noted about me and my leadership is that I get the job done.”
“I make sure that we are including opinions from people who have a stake in what comes out and people who don’t,” Bynum said. “What I also think is important to note is the work that we did during the George Floyd period on community safety. I worked across the aisle, made sure that my Republican counterpart, Ron Noble who is the vice chair of the judiciary committee, approved every single bill that committee generated.”
While Chavez-DeRemer claimed Noble may have disagreed with Bynum’s statement, the congresswoman said, “My record speaks for itself, in the 300-plus bills that I’m on or sponsored, over 84% of those are bipartisan. It’s not just one, two, or three issues, it’s all the issues.”
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