HAPPY VALLEY, Oregon — Financial advisers frequently warn clients that when it comes to stocks and other financial investments, past performance is no guarantee of future results. In Oregon ‘s 5th Congressional District, Janelle Bynum is betting that past electoral success against the incumbent Republican shows she’ll win on Election Day .
Bynum, a Democratic state representative since 2017, is challenging freshman Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) in a congressional district spanning the southern Portland suburbs and central Oregon. House Democrats only need to gain four seats to win a majority in the chamber, and this one is at the top of their list.
Voters in the area have seen the names of both candidates on the same ballot before, which is where Bynum’s past political success comes in.
Bynum twice beat Chavez-DeRemer for a seat in the state House of Representatives, first in a 2016 open-seat contest for a district entirely within Clackamas County, south of Portland, and in a 2018 rematch toward the end of Chavez-DeRemer’s 2011-2019 tenure as mayor of Happy Valley, a Portland suburb where about 24,000 people live.