Attack mode: Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Jamie McLeod-Skinner square off in combative KTVZ debate

(Update: Adding video, debate details)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – In a closely watched race some analysts call a toss-up, Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner traded accusations as much as views on issues during a combative hour-long debate on KTVZ Monday evening.

The newly drawn Fifth Congressional District has nearly equal voter groups of Republicans, Democrats and non-affiliated voters, making for a heated – and spendy – race heading into the final weeks.

The two clashed as much on claims and denials about each other as they did over the issues, with Chavez-DeRemer more than once noting her opponent’s dismissal as Phoenix, Oregon city manager in 2017 after only four months on the job over an allegedly “hostile work environment,” while McLeod-Skinner called her GOP foe “an out-of-touch millionaire who has multiple homes, multi-million dollar homes, including in Arizona.”

Chavez-DeRemer, who spent eight years as mayor of the Portland suburb of Happy Valley, said McLeod-Skinner marched in three rallies, calling for defunding police, which she strongly denied. McLeod-Skinner in return said Chavez-DeRemer had “gone on junkets on public funds” and “not shown accountability.”

Both women spoke of a record of bringing people together while calling the other candidate an extremist who would sow further division.

Even the issue of gun violence, quite sensitive in Bend after the late-August Safeway shooting, brought more attacks, as Chavez-DeRemer said, “My opponent wants to fully defund the police,” to which McLeod-Skinner responded: “This is not true – my opponent has trouble with the truth,” also repeatedly claiming Chavez-DeRemer wasn’t answering the questions posed by moderator Lee Anderson.

McLeod-Skinner claimed Chavez-DeRemer “talks about mental health with no funding” and “wants to take away all government funding of health care,” while her foe refuted the claim, saying she actually wants to leave health care decisions to the states and would support fully funding Social Security and Medicare, as well as the VA.

“It’s OK for her family to have guns, but not everybody else,” Chavez-DeRemer said. McLeod-Skinner said her opponent doesn’t offer solutions but has taken “limo rides and golf trips on the public taxpayer dollar.”

Chavez-DeRemer said small cities in Oregon are ill-equipped to seek federal grants, as you “have to have a PhD to fill out an application” -- to which McLeod-Skinner replied, “It’s not rocket science, it’s just good policy.”

The Republican candidate also said, “Our job is to listen, bring everybody to the table,” while accusing McLeod-Skinner of siding with “extreme environmentalists.” When Chavez-DeRemer noted that McLeod-Skinner had only been elected in California’s Bay Area, the Democrat accused her of “bait and switch.”

When they got a chance to ask each other questions, McLeod-Skinner called on Chavez-DeRemer to name a single gun-safety measure she could support. But the Republican said, “We cannot make criminals out of law-abiding citizens,” and the Democrat once again said she didn’t answer the question.

In return, Chavez-DeRemer noted that McLeod-Skinner has refused to say she’s a progressive – and asked, “Why won’t you say what you really are?”

McLeod-Skinner instead listed who she’s supported by, including the Independent and Working Families parties, as “a champion for working people. I believe in working across the aisle, compromise, while my opponent on the record does not.” She accused Chavez-DeRemer of supporting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and being “someone on the extreme fringe.”

“That’s just nonsense, and that’s an outright lie,” Chavez-DeRemer replied with a laugh. “It’s hypocrisy at its finest, accusing me of not answering the question, and she couldn’t answer it herself. So we’ll let the voters decide the truth about who my opponent is. She is a progressive.”

You can watch the full debate in three parts at the top of this page.

As a reminder, we have two more debates coming up this month:

6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 13: Deschutes County Commissioner Position 1, Republican incumbent Tony DeBone and Democrat Oliver Tatom; Position 3, Republican incumbent Patti Adair and Democrat Morgan Schmidt.  

6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18: Oregon House, District 53, Democrat Emerson Levy and Republican Michael Sipe; District 54, Democrat incumbent Jason Kropf and Republican Judy Trego.

We also will have interviews with the candidates for the three Bend City Council seats on the ballot in a series of reports on Tuesday through Thursday of this week.

Also, all of our previous debates, including the gubernatorial debate held at OSU-Cascades and last week’s Measure 114 debate, are available on KTVZ.COM’s special Decision 2022 page.