BEND, OR -- City Club of Central Oregon and League of Women Voters of Deschutes County kicked off a series of Primary Election candidate forums with the Democrats running for Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District. After initially agreeing to take part in the Tuesday event, the League of Women Voters says incumbent Representative Kurt Schrader backed out. His Primary challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner appeared at the virtual forum alone, answering questions from moderator Aaron Switzer, of The Source Weekly.

Click HERE to watch the full virtual forum, but here are a few highlights: 

Pandemic Response

McLeod-Skinner was asked about a variety of topics, including the "proper role" of Congress in preventing future pandemics. "Congress’ role is really to look at the crises we can avoid, things like the climate crisis that we’re fighting, and change the trajectory that we’re on," said McLeod-Skinner, "And then, it’s also to appropriately fund the preparedness and the recovery piece."

Homelessness & Housing

The Terrebonne Democrat was also asked how the federal government should address the housing crisis: "You know, the city of Bend is really doing some creative things around housing. Providing the resources to enable them to do that work is really critically important." She added, "Congress holds the purse-strings and the federal government has an opportunity to make those investments now so that people get access to housing. Housing - affordable housing is a huge issue throughout the district, throughout our state and really throughout our country.

Misinformation

And, on  Congress’ role in protecting voters from misinformation online, she said, "Creating restrictions and monitoring social media platforms, that’s accountability that Congress can actually be stepping up and be a bit more aggressive on - holding hearings and also establishing laws and expectations for those who are using the information super-highway of the internet. I think Congress has an important role to play there."

Oregon's New 5th District

Until last year's redistricting, Central Oregon was part of the Second District, represented by Congressman Cliff Bentz (R). The new boundaries split our region, with portions of Jefferson and Deschutes Counties now in the Fifth District, currently represented by Congressman Kurt Schrader (D). The district also includes portions of Multnomah, Clackamas, Hood River, Marion, Benton and Linn counties. McLeod-Skinner was asked whether the eight counties making up the new Fifth District have anything in common. She responded, "So, the newly drawn district now extends from the Sellwood Bridge to Sunriver, is really a shortstop for it. But we have urban and rural areas, like throughout our state. And, what’s so exciting about CD-5, is it’s really a microcosm of Oregon and a microcosm of our country. So those partnerships, and bringing folks together across that urban-rural divide, is something that I find really exciting."

 

McLeod Skinner ran unsuccessfully against now-retired Congressman Greg Walden in the Second District in 2018, and for Oregon Secretary of State in 2020.

Republican candidates for CD-5 debate Thursday.