By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Returns on Tuesday indicate that incumbent Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle will continue to represent Oregon’s 4th Congressional District in Congress.
Hoyle had nearly 53% of the vote compared with 43% for Republican and retired Air Force Col. Monique DeSpain, according to the Secretary of State’s Office a few minutes to midnight. In the 2022 election, Hoyle won by a comfortable margin — 7 points — against Republican Alex Skarlatos, a former National Guardsman.
“I’m grateful that my constituents have honored me with their support,” Hoyle said in a statement Tuesday night. “But given the uncertainty of the national results, it is clear we have work to do to defend the values and priorities of Oregonians in Washington, DC.”
DeSpain said in an email that she would be monitoring voting results through Wednesday morning before commenting further. “We look forward to seeing the ballot tallies as they continue to come in this evening and tomorrow and will address the results of the election at that time,” she said.
Like many districts in Oregon, unaffiliated voters make up the largest voting bloc, accounting for 35 percent of the district’s registered voters, compared with 32 percent for Democrats and 25 percent for Republicans.
Local and national Republicans were hoping DeSpain could flip the district — which spans Lincoln County and six other counties mostly along the southwest coast — to bolster their thin majority in the House. But DeSpain, a lawyer for Salem-area state Rep. Kevin Mannix, has not held elected office and had a fundraising disadvantage. She raised just over $750,000 as of the end of September compared with the nearly $2.4 million Hoyle raised.
Hoyle is a longtime elected official. She served in the state House for eight years, including as majority leader, and was labor commissioner between 2019 and 2023. She was elected to Congress in 2022 following the retirement of former U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, who had represented the district in Congress for 36 years.
In her first two years in office, Hoyle said she brought millions in federal funds to the district for wildfire prevention and emergency communications, worked to increase firefighter pay and boost investments in housing and health care. She also said she would protect women’s reproductive rights and access to abortion. Along with Vermont, Oregon has the highest protections for abortion in the country. Democrats warn that if Republicans take control of the White House and Congress, they’ll try to pass a nationwide abortion ban.
DeSpain said during the campaign she opposes a federal abortion ban and would do everything she could to protect Oregon’s laws from federal interference. She said she was focused on border security, seen as a weak issue for Democrats, and she hammered Hoyle over an ethical issue, accusing her of being under federal investigation, which is not true.
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