Incumbent U.S. House Rep. Kurt Schrader was trailing challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner by more than 20 points early Wednesday for the Democratic nomination in the 5th congressional district. On the Republican side, there was a tighter contest between Lori Chavez-Deremer and Jimmy Crumpacker in Oregon’s primary.
McLeod-Skinner had a 60.92% – 38.42% lead over Schrader as of 9:20 a.m. Wednesday. Chavez-Deremer was leading Crumpacker 41.88% – 30.32%.
One thing that was slowing down the results was an issue with ballots in Clackamas County, the third-most populous in Oregon. More than half the ballots included a blurry bar code that cannot be read by ballot-scanning machines, the Associated Press reported.
Teams that include both Democrats and Republicans are duplicating every ballot so they can be scanned and extra workers were brought in to help, the AP said. Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan called the issues “unacceptable” and said she was “deeply concerned” about the delay. But she said she was confident the final results would be accurate.
Statement on Clackamas County Election Results Delay. pic.twitter.com/j8PrDPuk7d
— Secretary of State Shemia Fagan (@OregonSOS) May 18, 2022
The 2020 Census gave Oregon a sixth U.S. House seat. After redistricting, the 5th district was redrawn to include parts of Central Oregon, including Bend and Redmond. Crook and Jefferson counties remain part of the newly redrawn 2nd District.
In the 2nd District, incumbent Republican Rep. Cliff Bentz will face Democratic challenger Joe Yetter, the Associated Press has projected.
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