Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum speaks to supporters at a canvass launch on Sept. 7, 2024 while her daughter watches. (Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Although Oregon mostly held to its usual political patterns this election, that doesn’t mean nothing changed.
The pre-eminent example of that is Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, where the parties flipped control and the vote changed a little.
A close look at the election results showed some other shifts, down to the county level, happened elsewhere, too.
But a good place to focus is on the 5th District race. The district crosses the Cascades south of Portland and includes all or part of six counties: Clackamas, Deschutes, Jefferson, Linn, Marion and Multnomah. Only a thin slice of Multnomah is included along with a tiny number of people in Jefferson County, which is mostly in the 2nd District. That leaves the weight of the vote in the 5th concentrated in Clackamas and Deschutes counties.
Taken as a whole the district leans slightly Democratic, but not by a lot.