The top US House races in Oregon garnering national attention

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The top US House races in Oregon garnering national attention

2024-11-05 16:10 Last Updated At：16:21

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — One of the most competitive U.S. House races in the country is playing out in Oregon, where the state’s GOP-held 5th Congressional District is among just over two dozen seats nationwide that are considered toss ups.

Two other House races in the state’s 4th and 6th districts, though less competitive, will also be closely watched as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of Congress. And in each contest, freshman female lawmakers are seeking reelection.

Here are the tightest House races in the state:

Republicans are looking to maintain a seat they flipped red during the 2022 midterms for the first time in roughly 25 years. But freshman U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing a different Democratic opponent this November: Janelle Bynum, a state representative who has previously beat her in legislative elections in the district and is backed and funded by national Democrats.

The seat is seen as a toss up by the Cook Political Report, meaning either party has a good chance of winning. Outside groups have poured millions of dollars into the race.

Chavez-DeRemer narrowly won her seat in 2022 in the first election held in the district after its boundaries were significantly redrawn following the 2020 census. It now encompasses disparate regions spanning metro Portland and its wealthy and working-class suburbs, as well as rural agricultural and mountain communities and the fast-growing central Oregon city of Bend on the other side of the Cascade Range.

Unaffiliated voters represent the largest constituency, although registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by about 25,000. Both parties are hoping that the higher voter turnout typically seen during presidential election years, compared to midterm elections, will energize their base.

A small part of the district is in Multnomah County, where a ballot box just outside the county elections office in Portland was set on fire by an incendiary device about a week before the election, damaging three ballots. Authorities said that enough material from the incendiary device was recovered to show that the Portland fire was also connected to two other ballot drop box fires in neighboring Vancouver, Washington, one of which occurred on the same day and damaged hundreds of ballots.

Oregon’s newest congressional district, the 6th, is seen as a likely win for Democrats compared to the 5th, according to the Cook Political Report. This gives a slight advantage to incumbent U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat who is running once again against Mike Erickson, a Republican she defeated in the 2022 midterms by roughly 2.5 percentage points.

Salinas has far outraised Erickson, with over $5 million in campaign contributions compared to his roughly $545,000, the most recent federal campaign finance records show.

Salinas and Chavez-DeRemer became the first Latina members of Congress to represent Oregon when they were elected in the 2022 midterms.

Erickson is the founder and CEO of a shipping and logistics consulting company. It's his fourth time running for Congress.

The boundaries of the 6th District were created during redistricting after the 2020 census. The district includes the state capital Salem and parts of Portland’s affluent southwestern suburbs. And while it also spans rural areas across a broad swath of the Willamette Valley, President Joe Biden would have carried it by about 13 points in 2020.

Democratic freshman U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle is seeking reelection in the 4th District, which spans the southern half of the state’s coast and includes rural, mountainous communities and the more populous, liberal college towns of Eugene and Corvallis.

She’s running against Republican Monique DeSpain, who served in the U.S. Air Force for three decades, largely as a military lawyer, according to her website. DeSpain has never held elected office and has pitched herself as an “outsider” candidate.

The district, which hasn’t elected a Republican to the House since 1972, is seen as a likely win for Democrats, according to the Cook Political Report.

Hoyle had outraised DeSpain by about $1.6 million as of mid-October, but Republican-affiliated groups still spent heavily in their bid to flip the seat, federal campaign finance records show. The fundraising arm of U.S. House Republicans, the National Republican Congressional Committee, spent some $375,000 on ads opposing Hoyle.

A tiny village in India where Kamala Harris has ancestral roots is praying for her victory

2024-11-05 16:12 Last Updated At：16:21

THULASENDRAPURAM, India (AP) — The temple reverberated with rhythmic Sanskrit and Tamil hymns, as a Hindu priest held a flame before the god. As this tiny South Indian village gathered to pray for Kamala Harris, a gaggle of reporters jostled for space and camera angles.

There's little to distinguish the village of Thulasendrapuram from any other rural community in Tamil Nadu, except its connection to a woman who could become America's first leader with South Asian roots.

As millions of Americans vote, Harris has people rooting for her from thousands of miles away in a village surrounded by rice paddies and coconut trees, where her mother's family has ancestral ties. They talk about her at the local tea shop. Banners and billboards bearing her face are seen throughout the community.

“Our deity is a very powerful God. If we pray well to him, he will make her victorious,” said M. Natarajan, the temple priest that led the prayers in front of the image of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva.

Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in the village, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) from the southern coastal city of Chennai, more than 100 years ago. As an adult, he moved to Chennai, where he worked as a high-ranking government official until his retirement.

Harris has never visited Thulasendrapuram and she has no living relatives in the village, but people here still venerate the family that made it big in the U.S.

“Our village ancestors' granddaughter is running as a U.S. presidential candidate. Her victory will be happy news for every one of us,” Natarajan said.

The village's sudden fame has helped bring money into the village. Recently, construction began on a water storage tank with funds donated by a local bank. Village residents say it will carry a plaque with Harris’ name.

Harris’ late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was born in India. After moving to the U.S. to study, she married a Jamaican man, and they named their daughter Kamala, a Sanskrit word for “lotus flower.”

Other than trips during her childhood, Harris hasn’t visited India much — particularly not since becoming vice president — but she has often spoken emotionally about her ties to her late mother’s country of birth. On Tuesday, she released a campaign video highlighting her mother, who arrived in the U.S. at age 19 and became a cancer researcher.

Titled “Mother,” the video ends with a narrator saying: “This daughter of Shyamala, this daughter of the American story, is ready to lead us forward.”

Harris has often talked about how she was guided by the values of her Indian-born grandfather and mother. She has also spoken of her love of south Indian food, especially a type of steamed rice cake called idli.

Harris’ name is engraved in a list of donors — her aunt Sarala Gopalan gave money to the temple in her name — along with that of her grandfather. Outside, a large banner wishes “the daughter of the land” success in the election.

On Tuesday, the village temple also received rare international visitors: two American tourists and one from the U.K., all wearing black t-shirts that said “Kamala Freakin Harris.”

Manikandan Ganesan, a villager who runs a small store near the temple, said Harris’ bid for the presidency has made the village famous. He hopes Harris will eventually visit them.

“Even if she mentioned that she would visit our village, it would make us very happy,” Ganesan said. “Her victory itself will be a big source of happiness for us.”

Village residents also prayed for Harris’ victory in 2020, and set off firecrackers when she became the U.S. Vice President.

For women of the village, the candidate's journey is a source of inspiration.

Local politician Arulmozhi Sudhakar said Harris embodies a significant step toward female empowerment in places like Thulasendrapuram, where a majority of women continue to face discrimination and gender inequality.

“From the time when women were not even allowed to step out of their house, to now a woman from our village contesting in the U.S. presidential election — this brings happiness for us,” Sudhakar said. “The coming generations will see her as a role model to succeed in life.”