By Sami Edge, The Oregonian/OregonLive
State Rep. Maxine Dexter won the competitive Democratic primary to represent Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday.
Partial results as of 10 p.m. showed Dexter with 51% of the tallied votes compared to 29% for former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal and 14% for Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales. Four other Democratic candidates remained far behind.
Dexter is expected to coast to victory in the general election this fall. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans more than 3-to-1 in the district, which stretches from the Willamette River to Hood River.
She will face the winner of a three-way Republican primary. Attorney Joanna Harbour appeared poised to win that race with 53% of the vote in partial results at 10 p.m.
“In Congress, I will listen, I will work with others and we will find a path forward that gets results,” Dexter told supporters at an election night party at North Portland’s Polaris Hall. “Our first priority must be preserving a democracy where everyone has a voice. We cannot let the politics of hate and fear divide us.”
Retiring U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who has represented the 3rd District for nearly three decades, didn’t endorse any candidates in the primary, but congratulated Dexter shortly after it became apparent she had won the race Tuesday night.
“Maxine has proven herself to be a serious and effective legislator,” Blumenauer said in a statement. “I am confident she’ll take this success with her to Washington D.C.”
What started as a collegial primary contest grew increasingly heated in the final month as outside groups pumped more than $5 million into the race to promote Dexter and attack Jayapal.
The 314 Action Fund, which aims to elect progressives with backgrounds in science to Congress, spent $2.2 million to support Dexter, while Voters for Responsive Government, a political action group established in April, spent $3.2 million against Jayapal.
It’s unclear who bankrolled Voters for Responsive Government, which has yet to disclose its donors. The 314 Action Fundreceived two-thirds of its April donations from three donors, two of whom are strong supporters of Israel.
Jayapal and Morales decried the outside spending, claiming the money was funneled from Republican donors trying to stop progressive candidates of color.
In a Tuesday night statement, Jayapal said that the race demonstrated the need for campaign finance reform. She also said she was proud to run a campaign based on values of “integrity, commitment and justice.”
“There is so much work to be done and I will continue that work to create shared prosperity, a sustainable planet and a truly strong democracy. One in which people – not profit, not money – have power,” Jayapal said. “We are not there, but we will continue to fight. While we may be disappointed in the results, the fight was worth it and always is.”
By the end of April, Dexter had outraised both Jayapal and Morales, in a dramatic shift from January when she had the least financial support of the three. In May, Dexter reported about $418,000 in last-minute campaign contributions compared to a combined $150,000 reported by her two top competitors. A large chunk of Dexter’s last-minute funding poured in from out-of-state donors who had also given to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or related groups. Some of those donors also gave to Republican candidates.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee congratulated Dexter for her win on social media Tuesday night, saying their members were “proud to support” her against Jayapal, who they called an “anti-Israel opponent.”
Jayapal said she expected pro-Israel groups to potentially weigh in against her, as they have in other races across the country. Jewish Insider magazine wrote last year that Jayapal had drawn scrutiny from pro-Israel leaders after she declined to sign a county commission statement condemning Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack because it did not acknowledge Palestinians killed in Israel’s brutal response. She later explicitly condemned Hamas and called for a ceasefire.
Dexter denounced the attack ads against Jayapal by Voters for Responsive Government, but defended her longtime support from the 314 Action Fund. Campaign Manager Nathan Clark said that Dexter’s nuanced position on Israel “has earned support from a wide swath of our community.” She favors a ceasefire, immediate humanitarian aid to Gaza and a two-state solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Clark said.
“I did not for one second compromise my integrity or my values. I said what I mean and I mean what I said. When people chose to support me, I’m grateful for that,” Dexter told The Oregonian/OregonLive in an interview after her win. “There’s nothing that I did to pander. I stuck to a positive race and talking about my own qualifications and what I’ll do for this district. I think that’s what people want to hear.”
Dexter, a critical care physician and pulmonologist in Kaiser Permanente hospitals, is in her second full term in the Oregon House. As the chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, Dexter helped pass major investments in affordable housing and rental assistance championed by Gov. Tina Kotek. She also sponsored legislation that ramped up the distribution of a life-saving opioid overdose reversal medication and banned restaurants’ use of Styrofoam takeout containers.
She received endorsements from leading Democratic state lawmakers, as well as medical organizations and gun control advocacy groups.
“I am deeply grateful for this community,” Dexter said Tuesday night. “You made this campaign possible.”
Jayapal, a lawyer who was born in India and moved to the U.S. at 16 for college, served on the Multnomah County Commission from 2019 to 2023, where she said she helped increase rent assistance for low-income families and replace wood stoves with climate-friendly heat pumps. She pitched herself during the campaign as a coalition-builder and the strongest progressive in the race. She received the endorsement of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and drew more than $150,000 in outside support from a group that backs progressive Indian American candidates.
Morales spent more than a decade organizing voters and said he helped generate key support for the Affordable Care Act and youth immigrant “dreamers.” He grew up in Oregon, raised by a mother who immigrated from Mexico. He received support from a bevy of labor unions, the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Georgia voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams.