Bynum outraises Adair by $630,000 in Tigard-area House race

U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum raised $857,000 in the third quarter for her 5th Congressional District seat, which includes Tigard, outpacing Republican challenger Patti Adair by nearly $630,000.

Bynum, a Democrat, spent $1.2 million between July 1 and Sept. 30 and holds $2.3 million in her campaign account, more than any other Oregon U.S. House candidate, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings first reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Adair, a Deschutes County commissioner, raised about $225,000 and spent $174,000, leaving $186,000 on hand.

Tigard sits in the 5th District, which stretches from Portland's suburbs across the Santiam Canyon to Bend. The Nov. 3 general election is less than two weeks away.

Bynum's campaign has drawn contributions from 55 other states, mostly from Oregon, the FEC records show. As of late June, Bynum had raised $3.7 million for the full election cycle compared with about $424,000 for Adair, according to a September analysis by the Oregon Capital Chronicle.

The fundraising disparity tracks with outside assessments of the race. The Cook Political Report rates the 5th District as solid Democratic. Rob Pyers, research director for the nonpartisan California Target Book, noted on X that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) had made coordinated ad buys in the district.

DHM public opinion researcher John Horvick told the Oregon Capital Chronicle in September that national Republican money has stayed away from Adair's campaign. "It's like a chicken and egg thing, like national money doesn't think she's going to win so she doesn't get money and she doesn't have the tools to effectively challenge Bynum," Horvick said.

The 5th District was a swing seat four years ago, when Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer won it by 1.9 percentage points. Bynum, then a state legislator, defeated Chavez-DeRemer in 2024.

As we reported Oct. 20, the neighboring 6th District race shows an even wider fundraising gap: U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas raised $277,000 to Republican David Russ's $250.

Ballots are due by Nov. 3.