Spending in a much-watched Oregon Senate race surged in the
last month, as groups funded by the real estate industry and trial
lawyers poured money into the race that will determine whether
Democratic incumbent Rod Monroe continues to represent East Portland.
Monroe is trying to fend off Shemia Fagan and Kayse Jama, who are
running against him from the left, in the May 15 primary. Housing
affordability is the central issue: Monroe says rent control doesn't
work, whereas Fagan and Jama want to allow cities to impose such limits.
The election is also a referendum on the Senate's moderate Democratic
establishment.
Groups that make what's known as independent expenditures are not allowed to coordinate with candidates or campaigns.
Monroe said Tuesday that the independent expenditures absolutely
bumped up total campaign spending in the race. "It is the first campaign
I've been involved with where there's been an auxiliary campaign on
both sides," he said. "It's something that's completely new to me, and I
had nothing to do with it." Fagan could not be reached for comment
Tuesday afternoon.
As
of Tuesday, Monroe reported raising more than $330,000 and spending
$290,000 since his last election. A political action committee called
Protect Sensible Leadership independently spent more than $176,000 on
polling in support of Monroe and advertising against Fagan, according to
state campaign finance records. It's funded mostly by the real estate
industry which has also contributed directly to Monroe, although
political action committees for Oregon Business & Industry and a
medical malpractice insurer recently chipped in.
Fagan reported raising more than $300,000 and spending more than
$160,000 in the nine months since she announced her candidacy. There's
also a political action committee involved in the race that is largely
funded by the public employee unions and trial lawyers who are Fagan's
largest supporters, according to campaign finance records. That
committee, A Progressive Voice for Oregon, has reported raising more
than $70,000 and spending just $13,000 on advertising against Monroe.
Jama had reported raising more than $50,000 and spending $34,000.
Kayse Jama
The committee supporting Monroe and opposing Fagan has put its money
into print, broadcast, social media and other online advertising, mostly
in the last three weeks, according to state campaign finance
disclosures. The spending was mostly at firms in Brooklyn and in
Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. At this point in the election, political
action committees have seven days to report transactions.
Shawn Cleave, government affairs director for the Oregon Association
of Realtors and a director of the Protect Sensible Leadership political
action committee, did not respond to a request for comment on why the
groups are spending independently in the Senate District 24 race.
Elizabeth
Bernard, treasurer for the trial lawyers political action committee
that has supported Fagan and A Progressive Voice for Oregon, declined to
comment on why the lawyers are supporting the group spending
independently on the race. A spokeswoman for Service Employees
International Union, another donor to Fagan and A Progressive Voice for
Oregon, could not immediately be reached for comment.
