Hispanic Caucus reserves ad slots for Oregon House race

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus campaign arm on Monday announced it is buying up airtime for the House race in Oregon’s newest district, supporting Democratic nominee Andrea Salinas.

Bold PAC, the Hispanic caucus’s political arm, has made Salinas’s election a priority after an expensive primary where the group outmuscled a coalition between Democratic leadership and a cryptocurrency super PAC.

“CHC Bold PAC is proud to support Andrea Salinas. Salinas has a strong and proven record protecting reproductive rights, affordable health care, and the environment. It’s why she prevailed in her competitive primary and why voters will decide she is the right choice to represent them in Congress this November,” said Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), a former Bold PAC chairman.

Salinas is favored to win the new district, created after the 2020 Census.

But the 20 percent Hispanic district represents a beachfront for Hispanic Democrats, who currently have no congressional representation from the Pacific Northwest, despite the region’s growing and generally prosperous Latino population.

Two Democratic Latinas are currently vying for House seats in the region.

Salinas, currently an Oregon state representative, is competing for the state’s 6th District, and in neighboring Washington, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is competing for that state’s 3rd district, where Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) lost her primary.

A Republican Latina is running in a neighboring, more competitive, Oregon district.

Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing off against Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who beat Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) in the primary.

Salinas is facing off against Republican Mike Erickson, a largely self-funded candidate who’s kept his campaign afloat despite his party largely dismissing the district.

With a rare pickup opportunity at hand, Democrats aren’t taking any chances.

In addition to Bold PAC’s six-figure investment, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last month made a $3.5 million buy for ads in the Portland area, including in support of Salinas and McLeod-Skinner.