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Democrats Holding Strong in Oregon

David Wu of Oregon is the nation's first Chinese American in Congress.

Incumbent David Wu’s fund-raising lead imperils Republican challenger

By Brad Cain/AP

In his campaign to unseat Democratic Rep. David Wu in northwest Oregon’s 1st District, Republican Charles Starr has tried to paint the freshman congressman as a pawn of labor and environmental groups.

Meanwhile, in the Willamette Valley’s 5th district, GOP contender Brian Boquist says voters are ready for a change after two terms of Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley’s “liberal representation.”

But neither Republican challenger has been able to raise a lot of campaign money, and at this point it doesn’t appear likely that either Democratic incumbent will be defeated even though GOP strategists had earlier targeted both districts.

In fact, Republicans, though they are seeking desperately to hold control of the U.S. House, aren’t fielding widely known challengers anywhere in Oregon, where Democrats hold four of the five House seats.

Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer is considered solid in Portland area’s heavily Democratic 3rd District. And seven-term Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio faces a nominal challenge in southwest Oregon’s 4th District, as does 2nd District Rep. Greg Walden, the delegation’s lone Republican.

Wu and Hooley were seen as the most vulnerable because they represent districts where voter registration is about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Neither of them drew a well-known, well-funded Republican challenger, however, and it’s a phenomenon that has occurred elsewhere in the country, Portland pollster Tim Hibbitts said.

“Both parties are having a tough time recruiting candidates to run in marginal districts against incumbents who can raise large amounts of money,” Hibbitts said.

In the 1st District race, Wu has outraised and outspent Starr; the Democratic congressman, in his last campaign finance report, listed $700,000 in cash on hand, more than 20 times the $33,000 that Starr had on hand.

Starr, a state senator from Hillsboro, knows he faces long odds trying to overcome Wu’s fund-raising advantage.

“We’re hurting,” he said. “We know our media buys are going to be limited. There probably won’t be any TV.”

The socially conservative legislator has been trying to make a campaign issue of Wu’s opposition to permanent free trade with China.

“We certainly think he was wrong about voting against our state and regional interests on free trade with China,” Starr said. “We need to open up that huge market to our agricultural products. We need more opportunity there.”

Wu, the first Chinese American from the mainland to be a member of the U.S. House, said he opposed giving China permanent trade status mainly because of that country’s poor record on human rights.

“It’s unfortunate that it became an election issue,” Wu said. “But I told people where I stood on the issue two years ago, and I think they know it was a vote on personal principle.”

In the 5th District race, Boquist, owner of a Salem-based air charter company who has never served in public office, is also having difficulty raising enough money to mount a major campaign against Hooley.

In his last campaign finance reports, Boquist listed $8,013 in cash on hand, compared with Hooley’s $454,000.

Boquist said he’s been relying on mass mailings and newspaper inserts to get his message out.

“I’m a constitutional Republican who believes in less government, local control and smarter defense,” he said. “She, on the flip side, is a tax-and-spend Democrat who wants to keep all control in Washington, D.C.”

Hooley, for her part, said she’s been a “centrist” Democrat who’s voted with the majority of Republicans on key issues such as easing the so-called marriage penalty and tightening federal bankruptcy laws to curb abuses.

“I’ve listened to the people of my district. I’ve paid attention to them,” the two-term congresswoman said.

Hibbitts said at this point both Starr and Boquist have to be rated as long-shots.

“If they are being outspent 10-to-1, it’s hard to believe that either of them could come close in the election,” the Portland pollster said.