Jason Faler, a Tigard combat veteran who served nearly 27 years in the U.S. Army, ended his nonaffiliated campaign for Congress on Tuesday, Aug. 11, after collecting just under 3,000 of the roughly 3,500 valid signatures needed to reach the November ballot.
Faler, 49, had hoped to challenge Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas in Oregon's 6th Congressional District, which includes Tigard and Tualatin. Salinas' district office sits on SW Martinazzi Avenue in Tualatin.
Under Oregon law, nonaffiliated candidates must gather signatures equal to 1% of the votes cast in their district during the last presidential election. Major-party candidates, by contrast, pay a $100 filing fee to the Oregon Secretary of State.
No signatures required.
Faler told reporter Mia Maldonado of the Oregon Capital Chronicle that the pen-and-paper process made his effort nearly impossible without a party apparatus behind him.
"The obstacle to obtaining that number of signatures with pen and paper, unless one has an existing army of volunteers or the financial wherewithal to hire lots of paid circulators, is virtually doomed," Faler said.
He had aimed for 4,500 signatures to account for ones that might be invalidated, but fell roughly 500 short of even the minimum threshold two weeks before the Aug. 25 filing deadline. His campaign raised $15,000 from individual donors.
A fourth-generation Oregonian and former healthcare executive, Faler framed his candidacy as a rejection of special political and corporate interests. He said he plans to run again in 2028 and will push Oregon lawmakers to allow digital signature collection for nonaffiliated candidates in the meantime.
Oregon's nonaffiliated voters are the state's largest voting bloc, yet the structural barriers to ballot access remain steep. In 2024, the signature requirement for OR-6 was even higher at 4,749.
With Faler out, the November race becomes a two-way contest between Salinas, now in her second term, and Republican David Russ, former mayor of Dundee. The Cook Political Report rates the district as "solid Democratic" in 2026.
What's next: The Aug. 25 filing deadline for nonaffiliated candidates still stands for any other potential challengers. Faler said he will spend the next two years advocating for a digital signature option before launching a 2028 bid.
