Politics
Column: Is there room for a non-MAGA Republican in Trump's GOP? This purple patch of Oregon will tell
For nearly a decade, Donald Trump has ruled the Republican Party with a power that rivals the moon and tides.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer is trying to fight that gravitational pull.
Two years ago, the former mayor of Happy Valley, a Portland suburb, scratched out a narrow victory in a Democratic-leaning Oregon congressional district, one of just 16 Republicans nationwide who prevailed on turf where Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Her reelection contest, among the costliest and most competitive races in the country, is also one of roughly two dozen that will determine control of the House.
Columnist Mark Z. Barabak joins candidates for various offices as they hit the campaign trail in this momentous election year.
Beyond that, the race in this purple patch of a deep-blue state will address two broader questions.
How much, in these fractious and deeply polarized times, are voters willing to look past party labels? And what room is left in the Republican Party for someone pledging less than 100% fealty to Trump and rejecting his orthodoxy on issues such as green energy and election denial?
A vote for her, Chavez-DeRemer insists, is not affirmation of the MAGA agenda, nor should voters see it as support for the House Republican leadership firmly lodged under Trump’s thumb.
“What they should see is that I’m going to be thoughtful,” the congresswoman said after touring a union apprenticeship center in Tualatin, another upscale Portland suburb.
“Being a conservative voice, but also being … forward-thinking on how we can get things done,” she went on, “rather than get caught up in just the rhetoric or the talk or the identity politics.”
Her Democratic rival, state Rep. Janelle Bynum, is having none of that.
“My opponent supports President Trump,” she said in the first of two testy debates the pair held last week. (Chavez-DeRemer has, in fact, endorsed his return to the White House.)
“Rubber-stamps his agenda,” Bynum said. “Rubber-stamps his ideas.”
The Democrat’s wall-to-wall TV advertising is blunter still, showing Chavez-DeRemer with glowering images of the ex-president, his mini-me running mate, JD Vance, and scenes from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“Don’t believe MAGA extremists,” one spot ominously intones.
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Oregon’s 5th Congressional District unfurls from the outskirts of Portland, rolling south and east through the forested Cascades, across table-flat farmland and high desert to the recreational mecca of Bend.
The registration is nearly evenly split among unaffiliated voters, who make up the largest chunk of the electorate, followed by Democrats and then Republicans.
For years, much of the region was represented by Kurt Schrader, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. He lost the 2022 primary to a left-wing opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who, in turn, lost the general election to Chavez-DeRemer.
Fearing a rematch, national Democrats spent millions of dollars in this year’s primary attacking McLeod-Skinner and promoting Bynum, whom they considered a stronger candidate. She has twice beaten Chavez-DeRemer in campaigns for the state Legislature — though, it should be noted, those contests were held in friendlier Democratic territory.
If Bynum wants to make this congressional race about Trump and national Republicans, Chavez-DeRemer is eager to focus on Democrats in Salem, the state capital. She blames one-party rule for surging crime and drug abuse, a growing homeless population and a housing affordability crisis that’s priced out more and more Oregonians.
Bynum, she asserted, has “almost a decade-long” record of failing to address those issues in the Legislature. Things would only get worse, Chavez-DeRemer said, if she went to Congress.
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Chavez-DeRemer, 56, was born and raised in California’s Central Valley and graduated with a business degree from Fresno State University.
She and her husband, who met when she was 15, moved to Oregon more than two decades ago. Together, they founded a network of medical clinics and had twin daughters, now 30.
Chavez-DeRemer began her political career with election to the Happy Valley City Council in 2004 and served two terms as mayor, ending in 2018. It was a job, she tells audiences, where problem-solving was more important than partisanship, an approach she says she’s taken to Washington.
“This isn’t about one side or the other,” Chavez-DeRemer told a meeting of Clackamas County law enforcement officers, before they delivered their endorsement. “I’m willing to work with anybody.”
As a Latina, Chavez-DeRemer doesn’t look like most Republican members of Congress. Nor does she act or vote like them.
She was ranked the 29th most bipartisan House member in a survey done by Georgetown University; Chavez-DeRemer used that particular B-word or some variant a dozen times in an hourlong debate.
She is also the rare GOP lawmaker with strong support from organized labor. Several of the unions that backed her Democratic opponent two years ago endorsed Chavez-DeRemer this time.
Touring the plumbers and steamfitters apprentice program, she talked up the importance of organized labor, extolled the job-creating potential of green energy and mentioned her father was a proud member of the Teamsters. “We are union strong in Oregon,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “That’s important.”
As she entered one training area, where apprentices learn to install sinks and toilets, she paused and took a deep breath of air redolent with the scent of PVC glue and primer. “I love that smell,” she said with a broad smile.
“Smells like money,” said James King, the union’s assistant business manager.
Chavez-DeRemer turned on her heels and gave him a high-five.
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The congresswoman doesn’t run from Trump. She supports his election in November, she says, because she believes the policies of the Biden administration have failed the country and she considers the former president a strong leader.
But Chavez-DeRemer doesn’t talk about him, either — unless someone brings him up first. “I’ve never even met President Trump,” she says.
In one debate, a viewer-submitted question asked whether Chavez-DeRemer believes Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential race. “Yes, I do believe that,” she said crisply and without hesitation.
Endorsing the former president without embracing him is not the only fine line that Chavez-DeRemer is walking in a district almost certain to back Kamala Harris. She’s also attempting a tricky balance on the abortion issue.
Though Chavez-DeRemer praised the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade and previously indicated support for a ban starting at six weeks — before some women know they are pregnant — she said she would oppose any efforts to outlaw the procedure nationwide.
Most Oregonians favor legalized abortion, she noted, as do most Americans. “I will protect their access,” she promised.
In the end, the contest is likely to come down to trust — a word her opponent used in their second debate even more times than Chavez-DeRemer invoked bipartisanship.
“My opponent cannot be trusted,” Bynum said, whether the question dealt with taxes, housing, inflation or her willingness to break with Trump and fellow Republicans to work, as she constantly pledges, with Democrats.
Janelle Bynum, the Democratic candidate running to represent Oregon’s 5th Congressional District.
(Jenny Kane / Associated Press)
Chavez-DeRemer insists, repeatedly, that her pursuit of compromise is not calculated or a function of being a Republican running in a purple district, which leaves her no choice. It reflects, she said, her true self.
“Oh, I have lots of choices,” she said as she left the peace officers union headquarters. “And my choice is to work hard and work with my colleagues across the aisle.”
Voters will take her word, or not, and that will decide not just Chavez-DeRemer’s future, but how much of a shrinking middle ground still exists.
U.S. military forces stopped and boarded a second sanctioned tanker carrying oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon said on Thursday, ramping up pressure on Tehran as the Trump administration seeks to resume negotiations to end the war.
A naval boarding team roped down from hovering helicopters and fanned out on the vessel, the M/T Majestic X, according to a Pentagon statement that included a 17-second video of the operation.
The military said the boarding was part of a “global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.”
Earlier this week, Navy SEALS boarded another ship in the Indian Ocean, the M/T Tifani, after the Pentagon said it was carrying oil from Iran.
Navy destroyers are also shadowing several other Iranian vessels, including the Dorena and Sevin, which had left from the Iranian port of Chabahar before the U.S.-imposed blockade began on April 13, a U.S. military official said. The Navy is directing those ships to return to an Iranian port, the official said.
With the M/T Tifani and M/T Majestic X now at least temporarily in the custody of the military, a U.S. military official said it was up to the White House to decide what to do with the sanctioned vessels and their cargo. The administration previously seized several tankers carrying illicit oil from Venezuela after a U.S. commando raid there in January that seized Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president.
“International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors,” the Pentagon said in its statement on Thursday, adding that the department would “continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted last week that the U.S. military would likely commence boarding operations like the ones this week. He said that U.S. military commanders elsewhere in the world, and especially in the Indo-Pacific region, would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”
The U.S. Navy has turned back at least 31 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, U.S. Central Command said late Wednesday.
Last Sunday, a Navy destroyer disabled and seized the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship, after it tried to evade the blockade. It was the first time a vessel was reported to have tried to evade the U.S.-imposed blockade on any ship entering or exiting Iranian ports since it took effect last week.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained why President Donald Trump does not consider Iran’s seizure of two ships in the Strait of Hormuz a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Leavitt made the statement during an interview with Fox News’ Martha McCallum on Wednesday just hours after Iran captured the Greek and Mediterranean-flagged vessels.
“Does the seizure of two ships — as we said, they were Greek and Mediterranean-owned ships with cargo on them, and the reports are that Iran basically seized them and then moved them into Iranian waters. We don’t know what’s going to happen to these crews. We’re not sure where all of this is going. Does the president view that as a violation of the ceasefire?” McCallum asked.
“No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels,” Leavitt responded.
US FORCES ATTEMPTING TO BOARD SANCTIONED RUSSIAN-FLAGGED OIL TANKER IN NORTH ATLANTIC, SOURCES SAY
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, conducts a press briefing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“And for the American media, who are sort of blowing this out of proportion to discredit the president’s facts that he has completely obliterated Iran’s conventional Navy, these two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal Navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don’t have control over the strait,” she continued.
“This is piracy that we are seeing on display. And the naval blockade that the United States has imposed continues to be incredibly effective. And, to be clear, the blockade is on ships going to and from Iranian ports. And the point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran now. While there’s a ceasefire with respect to the military and kinetic strikes, Operation Economic Fury continues, and the crux of that is this naval blockade,” she added.
The Iranian made ‘Seraj’ a high-speed missile-launching assault boat on display in Tehran on August 23, 2010, as Iran kicked off mass production of two high-speed missile-launching assault boats the ‘Seraj’ (Lamp) and ‘Zolfaqar’ (named after Shiite Imam Ali’s sword) speedboats which will be manufactured at the marine industries complex of the ministry of defense. (YALDA MOAIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the vessels, identified as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, were operating without proper authorization and had tampered with navigation systems, accusations that could not be independently verified. The ships had earlier reported coming under fire near the strait, underscoring the increasingly volatile conditions in one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.
US ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’ TO DESTROY IRAN’S ‘CROWN JEWEL’ ‘IF WE WANT,’ TRUMP WARNS
The Guard attacked a third ship, identified as the Euphoria, which had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported. It did not seize that vessel.
Ships and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Musandam, Oman, April 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Both the U.S. and Iranian sides have targeted commercial and cargo vessels as part of a broader pressure campaign tied to stalled negotiations. U.S. forces have also moved to seize at least one Iranian-linked vessel in the region, with each side accusing the other of violating the terms of a fragile ceasefire.
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The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for global oil shipments, with roughly 20% of the world’s supply passing through it. Traffic has slowed dramatically as ships reroute or avoid the area amid gunfire, seizures and conflicting directives from both militaries.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger met privately with President Trump and administration officials Wednesday to press for federal support and yet-unpaid wildfire recovery funding as the region continues to rebuild from the 2025 fires.
“This afternoon we met with President Trump and Administration officials to advocate for families who lost everything,” Bass and Barger said in a statement. “We had a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe — and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on L.A. families.”
Barger said the two leaders had a “high-level discussion” with the president in the Oval Office, sharing stories about what fire survivors are experiencing day to day. She added that “we left details behind with the President,” but did not specify whether Trump made any funding or policy promises during the meeting.
“First and foremost, today’s meeting was to thank the President for his initial support of infusing federal resources to expedite debris removal, as well as his recent tweet about insurance companies, which have already proven fruitful,” she said in a statement provided to The Times.
Bass was similarly reserved about the discussions, telling reporters that “we will follow up with the details,” but signaled progress is being made on federal support.
“I think what’s important is that we certainly got the president’s support in terms of, you know, what is needed, and then the appropriate people were in the room for us to follow up. And that was Russ Vought, who is the head of the Office of Management and budget,” Bass told KNX on Wednesday.
The meeting comes on the heels of a yearlong standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration over wildfire recovery funding, disaster response and whether the federal government should have a say in local rebuilding permitting.
California leaders, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused the Trump administration of withholding billions in critical wildfire aid, prompting a lawsuit over stalled recovery funds. Officials allege political bias in the delay of billions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Newsom visited Washington in December. When he made his rounds on Capitol Hill, he met with five lawmakers, including three who serve on the Senate and House appropriations committees, to renew calls for $33.9 billion in federal aid for Los Angeles County fire recovery.
But the governor said he was denied a meeting with FEMA and would not say whether he had attempted to meet with Trump to discuss the issue.
Bass, meanwhile, appears to have found a path to the president on a subject that has been paramount for her community.
The fruitful meeting comes after Trump lobbed insults at the mayor at a news conference earlier this year, where he called her “incompetent” for how she handled last year’s wildfire recovery efforts. He alleged that under Bass’ leadership, the city’s delay in issuing local building permits will take years when it should have taken “two or three days.”
California officials, including Newsom, have urged the Trump administration to send Congress a formal request for the $33.9 billion in recovery aid needed to rebuild homes, schools, utilities and other critical infrastructure destroyed or damaged when the fires tore through neighborhoods more than 15 months ago.
What Bass and Barger’s meeting with the president ultimately produces remains to be seen.
The billions in recovery aid have not yet materialized, but the meeting could potentially give those discussions new momentum.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about the meeting.
Earlier this month, Trump criticized insurance provider State Farm on Truth Social for its handling of the devastating Los Angeles County wildfires. He accused the insurance giant of abandoning its policyholders when tragedy struck.
“It was brought to my attention that the Insurance Companies, in particular, State Farm, have been absolutely horrible to people that have been paying them large Premiums for years, only to find that when tragedy struck, these horrendous Companies were not there to help!” Trump wrote.
But the rebuke didn’t come out of the blue. It stemmed from a controversial February visit to Los Angeles by Trump administration officials.
Trump tapped Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in an effort to strip California state and local governments of their authority to permit the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Within the week, Zeldin was in Los Angeles, bashing Newsom and Los Angeles officials at a roundtable with fire victims and reporters, saying that residents were suffering from “bureaucratic, red tape delays and incompetency” and that leadership was “denying them … the ability to rebuild their lives”.
During the trip, officials heard direct complaints from local leaders and fire victims about insurers being slow, restrictive and insufficient with their claim payouts.
After these meetings, Trump directed Zeldin to investigate the insurers’ responses. State Farm, facing roughly $7 billion in fire-related claims, is also under formal investigation by California’s insurance commissioner over its handling of the crisis.
Despite tensions with the administration, Bass and Barger appeared confident that progress was being made on the insurance and funding issues.
“Our job is to fight for our communities,” their joint statement concluded. “When it comes to this recovery, our federal partners are essential, and we are grateful for the support of the President.”
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