U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum raised $857,000 in the third quarter, outpacing Republican challenger Patti Adair by nearly $630,000 in the race for Oregon's 5th Congressional District.
Bynum's campaign spent $1.2 million over the same period and still holds $2.3 million in cash on hand, the most of any Oregon U.S. House candidate. The figures come from federal campaign finance reports filed Oct. 15 and first reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
Adair, a Deschutes County commissioner running for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, raised about$225,000 and spent $174,000 during the third quarter of 2026,ending September 30 with approximately$186,000 in her campaign account.”
Beaverton sits in the 5th District, which stretches from Portland's southeastern suburbs through Clackamas County and into central Oregon, including Bend. Election officials began mailing ballots to the district's 548,852 registered voters on Oct. 14, and all must be returned by 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Bynum, a Happy Valley Democrat serving her first term in Congress, flipped the seat from Republican control in 2024 with a 2.7-point win over then-Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, The Oregonian reported. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report now rates the seat as Solid Democratic.
The financial mismatch has drawn attention from political analysts. DHM public opinion researcher John Horvick told the Beaverton Valley Times in September that national Republican money has not flowed into the district to support 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.
More than half of Bynum's donations came from individual contributors, though she has also received support from political action committees (PACs) tied to pharmaceutical, technology and other industries, according to federal records. Adair has criticized Bynum for accepting corporate PAC money.
In an Oct. 10 interview with The Oregonian, Bynum said her finances are transparent and her voting record proves no one controls her vote. Adair, in the same report, said the federal government is "still spending too much money" and called for eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.
Across all Oregon U.S. House races, candidates raised a combined $2.8 million and spent $3.2 million in the third quarter. Nearly 60% of that money went to candidates in the 4th and 5th Congressional Districts, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported.
