Schrader was endorsed by President Biden for an eighth term while McLeod-Skinner, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018 as the Democratic nominee in Oregon’s 2nd District, had the backing of several of the party’s more liberal voices, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“This is a David and Goliath moment,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party — to which McLeod-Skinner belongs. “This win proves that voters are hungry for leaders who will fight for working families, not billionaires and Big Pharma.”
Schrader is the fourth incumbent to lose in this election cycle, following Reps. David B. McKinley (R-W.Va.) Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) and Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.).
Dan Conston, president of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, says it likes Chavez-DeRemer’s chances against McLeod-Skinner.
“Democrats ate their own,” he said. “And now a standout Republican candidate will face off against a far too liberal activist in Jamie McLeod-Skinner.”
The race was one of the country’s most closely watched Democratic primaries, given that it was the first to earn Biden’s endorsement — but also because the president felt the need to back an incumbent with an uneven track record for supporting his agenda.
“We don’t always agree, but when it has mattered most, Kurt has been there for me,” Biden said last month of Schrader, who initially voted against the American Rescue Plan before eventually backing the legislation. “And in doing so, he has helped to pass much of my agenda into law — making a huge difference in the lives of the Oregonians he represents and all of America.”
Four of the district’s five county Democratic parties endorsed McLeod-Skinner over Schrader, although she won two of them. Deschutes County, in which the challenger had run when it was part of a safe Republican seat, went for McLeod-Skinner by 40 points. That overwhelmed Schrader’s narrow advantage in less liberal parts of the district.
“Being outspent by unlimited SuperPAC funds and working without the assistance of the [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] never worries us here,” said Jason Burge, the chairman of the Deschutes County Democratic Party. Local activists, he said, had stayed organized after McLeod-Skinner’s 2018 campaign for House. “Her success had enormous coattails that helped establish our ground game in Deschutes that cycle and led to many victories.”
Jerred Taylor, the chair of Linn County’s Democratic Party, said that its precinct leaders felt that McLeod-Skinner would be more electable in November, because Schrader’s role in trimming the Biden agenda would depress the Democratic vote.
“We felt that McLeod-Skinner would have the best chance of energizing voters and of advancing Democrats’ agenda in D.C.,” he said.
Read More: Kurt Schrader loses primary in Oregon’s 5th District
