Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s lead over Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the race for the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon’s 5th District got smaller Thursday afternoon, but every so slightly.
The Secretary of State’s Office said Chavez-DeRemer 51.05% of the vote to McLeod-Skinner’s 48.69% as of 3:30 p.m. Thursday. While it was closer than the 5% gap Chavez-DeRemer enjoyed on election night, it was only 0.01% closer than it was Thursday morning.
McLeod-Skinner released a statement Wednesday to her supporters thanking them and saying there are still votes to be counted.
“While we are currently behind, most of the remaining ballots to be counted are in counties where we are leading. We anticipate the gap to continue to close – what remains to be seen is if we will catch up and move ahead,” McLeod-Skinner wrote.
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The 5th District has a different look in this election. It was redrawn after the 2020 U.S. Census, which also gave the state one more Congressional district.
The new 5th District takes up much of Deschutes and Jefferson counties, taking them from the 2nd District which still encompasses the rest of Eastern Oregon.
McLeod-Skinner defeated incumbent Democrat Kurt Schrader in the May primary.
Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball, two national, non-partisan elections forecasters, both had this race as a toss-up for weeks. But both move it to “Lean Republican” about a week before the election.
Kyle Kondik, Managing Editor at Sabato’s, said this was one of the most-watched races in the country as Republicans sought to wrestle control of the House of Representatives from Democrats.
