Jamie McLeod-Skinner

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Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Jamie McLeod-Skinner in West Linn.jpg
McLeod-Skinner in 2024
Personal details
Born (1967-05-31) May 31, 1967 (age 57)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party Democratic
SpouseCass McLeod-Skinner [1] [2]
Education Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (BS)
Cornell University (MS)
University of Oregon (JD)
Website Campaign website

Jamie McLeod-Skinner (born May 31, 1967) is an American attorney, engineer, and politician who has run for office in Oregon on multiple occasions. She was the Democratic nominee for Oregon's 5th congressional district in the 2022 election. [3] In an upset, McLeod-Skinner defeated seven-term incumbent Blue Dog representative Kurt Schrader in the Democratic primary for Oregon's 5th, [4] in a race in which she was considered the more progressive candidate. She narrowly lost the general election to Republican former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer. [5] She sought a rematch with Chavez-DeRemer in 2024 but lost in the Democratic primary to Janelle Bynum.

Contents

Early life and education

McLeod-Skinner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When she was nine, her mother, Marty Hall, moved to teach school in Tanzania. She attended elementary and high school there and in Kenya. [6] She moved in 1983 to Ashland, Oregon. She graduated from Ashland High School in 1985, where she still holds the girls' 800-meter track record. [7] She went to college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree. She received a master's degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1995. [8] She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2016 with a Juris Doctor. [8]

Career

Beginning at the end of 1995, she served as a reconstruction and program manager in war-torn Bosnia and Kosovo. She led a Lutheran services organization from 2000 through 2002. [9] [10]

From 2016 to 2017, McLeod-Skinner was the city manager of Phoenix, Oregon, where she was fired after four months by Mayor Chris Luz, supposedly due to complaints from several department heads, though she stated that the decision was politically motivated. [11] [12] Ultimately, the city councilors were split. She went on to work as the interim city manager of Talent, Oregon, in 2020, hired after the Almeda wildfire destroyed over 700 homes, [13] more than one-third of the city, [14] and where there was substantial discord between the executive, administration, and city employees. [9]

Political career

She served on the city council of Santa Clara, California, for eight years, from 2004 to 2012. [8] [15] In 2018, she ran in the Democratic primary for Oregon's 2nd congressional district, winning by 19.5% in a seven-candidate field. [16] The district had been held by Republicans since 1981 and had only twice been represented by Democrats in its 121-year history. In the general election, she faced nine-term incumbent Greg Walden, a former state senator. She decided to run due to Walden's efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act. No Democrat had come within 36 percentage points of Walden since 2000. McLeod-Skinner lost by less than 17%. A political scientist took note of her run, as she had defeated Walden in Deschutes County though no candidate had come close before, with Carol Voisin outdoing all others, yet losing by almost 17,000 votes in 2006. [17] [10]

In 2020, she ran in the Secretary of State primary against two incumbent Democratic state senators, Shemia Fagan and Mark Hass. She focused her campaign on preserving and expanding voter rights and accessibility and did not accept corporate contributions. [18] In the Democratic primary, the three candidates were separated by less than nine percentage points, with Fagan winning the election. [19]

In 2022, McLeod-Skinner challenged moderate Democrat Kurt Schrader, a six-term incumbent whose district boundaries were substantially reordered by redistricting, as Oregon gained a sixth seat due to its population increase. [20] Schrader had opposed some initiatives by President Biden, who nevertheless endorsed him, but the incumbent had alienated grassroots leadership in a number of counties. [21] The new district took in Deschutes County and also included part of Multnomah County, a reliable progressive stronghold. She won both counties by double digits. [22] Democratic Party leadership organizations in four of the five counties within the district's new boundaries supported McLeod-Skinner, who was also endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren. [21] Schrader received 2022 endorsements from President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, [23] and his campaign outspent McLeod-Skinner's by 10–1. [24] Although he first referred to Trump's impeachment as a "lynching", he later voted for it. [24] McLeod-Skinner's win marked the first time an incumbent member of Oregon's congressional delegation had lost a primary in 42 years. [4] The primary divided the party, and Schrader refused to endorse her in the general election. McLeod-Skinner narrowly lost the general election to Lori Chavez-DeRemer. [25] In 2023, she announced she would seek a rematch with Chavez-DeRemer. [26] [27]

The rematch with Chavez-DeRemer was derailed on 21 May 2024, when McLeod-Skinner lost in the primary to State Representative Janelle Bynum by a 40-percent margin. [28]

Electoral history

2018

2018 U.S. House Democratic primary in Oregon's 2nd district [29]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Jamie McLeod-Skinner 25,351 42.8
Democratic Jennifer Neahring14,02023.7
Democratic James Crary6,77411.4
Democratic Tim S. White3,4695.9
Democratic Raz Mason3,1375.3
Democratic Eric Burnette2,7344.6
Democratic Michael Byrne2,5464.3
Democratic Write-ins1,1732.0
Total votes59,204 100.0
2018 U.S. House Election in Oregon's 2nd district [30]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Greg Walden (incumbent) 207,597 56.3 −15.4
Democratic Jamie McLeod-Skinner145,29839.4+11.4
Independent Party Mark Roberts15,5364.2N/A
n/a Write-ins2780.1−0.2
Total votes368,709 100.0 N/A
Republican hold

2020

2020 Oregon Secretary of State Democratic primary [31]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Shemia Fagan 209,682 36.23%
Democratic Mark Hass 205,23035.46%
Democratic Jamie McLeod-Skinner159,43027.55%
Democratic Write-ins4,3950.76%
Total votes578,737 100.0%

2022

2022 U.S. House Democratic primary in Oregon's 5th district [32]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Jamie McLeod-Skinner 47,148 54.9
Democratic Kurt Schrader (incumbent)38,72645.1
Total votes85,874 100.0
2022 U.S. House Election in Oregon's 5th district [33]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Jamie McLeod-Skinner171,51448.83
Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer 178,813 50.91
Write-in 9060.26
Total votes351,233 100.0

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References

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