For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has ruled the Republican Party with power that rivals the moon and the tides.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer is trying to fight that gravitational pull.
Two years ago, the former mayor of Blissful Valley, a Portland suburb, eked out a narrow victory in a Democratic-leaning Oregon congressional district, one of just 16 Republicans nationwide to prevail in a field where Trump lost to Joe Biden.
His re-election race, one of the most expensive and competitive in the country, is also one of about two dozen that will determine House management.
Columnist Mark Z. Barabak joins candidates for various offices as they hit the campaign trail in this momentous election year.
Beyond that, the race in this purple zone of a deeply blue state will address two broader issues.
To what extent, in these troubled and deeply polarized times, are voters willing to look beyond partisan labels? And what room is there left in the Republican Party for anyone who pledges less than 100% loyalty to Trump and rejects his orthodoxy on issues like green energy and election denial?
A vote for her, Chávez-DeRemer insists, is not an affirmation of the MAGA agenda, nor should voters see it as support for the House Republican leadership firmly housed under Trump's management.
“What you should see is that I'm going to be thoughtful,” the congresswoman said after touring a union learning center in Tualatin, another upscale Portland suburb.
“Be a conservative voice, but also… think ahead about how we can do things,” he continued, “rather than just getting caught up in rhetoric or conversations or identity politics.”
His Democratic rival, state Rep. Janelle Bynum, is having none of that.
“My opponent supports President Trump,” he said in the first of two testy debates the two had last week. (Chavez-DeRemer has, in fact, endorsed his return to the White House.)
“Put a stamp on their agenda,” Bynum said. “Rubber stamps for your concepts.”
The Democrat's wall-to-wall television advertising is even more forceful, showing Chavez-DeRemer with glowering images of the former president, his mini-me running mate, JD Vance, and scenes from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“Don't believe the MAGA extremists,” one ad ominously warns.
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Oregon's 5th Congressional District stretches from the outskirts of Portland, moving south and east through the forested Cascades, across flat farmland and high desert to the recreational mecca of Bend.
Registration is almost evenly divided among unaffiliated voters, who make up the majority of the electorate, followed by Democrats and then Republicans.
For years, much of the region was represented by Kurt Schrader, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He lost the 2022 primary to a left-wing opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who, in turn, lost the general election to Chavez-DeRemer.
Fearing a rematch, national Democrats spent millions of dollars in this year's primaries attacking McLeod-Skinner and promoting Bynum, whom they considered a stronger candidate. She has twice defeated Chavez-DeRemer in campaigns for the state Legislature, although, it should be noted, those races were held in friendlier Democratic territory.
If Bynum wants this congressional race to focus on Trump and national Republicans, Chavez-DeRemer is eager to focus on Democrats in Salem, the state capital. She blames one-party rule for rising crime and drug abuse, a growing homeless population and a housing affordability crisis that is shutting out more and more Oregonians.
Bynum, he said, has a “nearly decade” history of not addressing those issues in the Legislature. Things would only get worse, Chavez-DeRemer said, if he went to Congress.
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Chavez-DeRemer, 56, was born and raised in California's Central Valley and graduated with a business degree from Fresno State University.
She and her husband, whom she met when she was 15, moved to Oregon more than two decades ago. Together they founded a network of medical clinics and had twin daughters, who are now 30 years old.
Chavez-DeRemer began her political career with election to the Blissful Valley City Council in 2004 and served two terms as mayor, ending in 2018. It was a job, she tells the audience, where problem-solving was more important than partisanship. , an approach she says has been brought to Washington.
“This is not about one side or the other,” Chavez-DeRemer said at a meeting of Clackamas County law enforcement officials before they delivered their endorsement. “I am willing to work with anyone.”
As a Latina, Chavez-DeRemer is unlike most Republican members of Congress. Nor does he act or vote like them.
He ranked 29th among the most bipartisan members of the House in a survey conducted by Georgetown University; Chavez-DeRemer used that specific B-word or some variant a dozen times in an hour-long debate.
She is also the only Republican legislator with strong support from unions. Several of the unions that backed her Democratic opponent two years ago backed Chavez-DeRemer this time.
As he toured the plumber and steamfitter apprentice program, he talked about the importance of organized labor, extolled the job-creating potential of green energy and mentioned that his father was a proud member of the Teamsters. “We are a strong union in Oregon,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “That's important.”
When he entered a training area, where apprentices learn how to install sinks and toilets, he stopped and took a deep breath of air that smelled of PVC glue and primer. “I love that smell,” he said with a wide smile.
“It smells like money,” said James King, the union's assistant business manager.
Chavez-DeRemer turned on her heel and high-fived.
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The congresswoman is not running away from Trump. She supports his election in November, she says, because she believes the Biden administration's policies have failed the country and considers the former president a strong leader.
But Chávez-DeRemer doesn't talk about it either, unless someone brings it up first. “I haven't even met President Trump,” he says.
In one debate, a question submitted by a viewer asked whether Chavez-DeRemer believes Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential race. “Yes, I do,” she said dryly and without hesitation.
Endorsing the former president without embracing him is not the only fine line Chavez-DeRemer is walking in a district that will almost certainly back Kamala Harris. He is also trying to find a complicated balance on the abortion issue.
Although Chavez-DeRemer praised the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, and previously indicated support for a ban starting at six weeks (before some women know they are pregnant), said he would oppose any attempt to ban the procedure nationwide.
Most Oregonians favor legalizing abortion, he noted, as do most Americans. “I will protect your access,” he promised.
Ultimately, the race is likely to come down to trust, a word her opponent used in their second debate even more times than Chávez-DeRemer invoked bipartisanship.
“My opponent cannot be trusted,” Bynum said, whether the question had to do with taxes, housing, inflation or her willingness to break with Trump and her fellow Republicans to work, as she constantly promises, with Democrats.
Janelle Bynum, the Democratic candidate running to represent Oregon's 5th Congressional District.
(Jenny Kane/Associated Press)
Chavez-DeRemer insists, repeatedly, that her search for a compromise is neither calculated nor a function of being a Republican running in a purple district, leaving her no choice. It reflects, he said, his true self.
“Oh, I have a lot of options,” he said as he left the law enforcement union headquarters. “And my choice is to work hard and work with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.”
Voters will take him at his word, or not, and that will decide not only the future of Chavez-DeRemer, but also the diminishing degree of middle ground that still exists.
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