McLeod-Skinner, Bynum Ask Each Other a Question

There’s little love lost in the Democratic primary for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.

The two candidates vying for the nomination in May—state Rep. Janelle Bynum and the 2022 nominee, Jamie McLeod-Skinner—have traded attacks for much of the year. (They both want to face off in November with the Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer.) The ill feelings stem in part from a former campaign adviser to McLeod-Skinner jumping ship to assist Bynum’s campaign and, in one case, going on the record about McLeod-Skinner’s treatment of her campaign driver.

That’s the backdrop to a tense exchange in our offices this month, when the two candidates sat side by side for an hour.

We asked each of them to ask their opponent a question. McLeod-Skinner pressed Bynum on a vote she took in the Legislature against extending the statute of limitations for sexual assault. Bynum says she objected to a technicality and, in hindsight, would have tried to fix the bill behind the scenes rather than voting no.

But the exchange is perhaps as interesting for how the candidates interacted with each other as for what they said. Watch for yourself.