Oregonian endorses Schrader, Wu, Walden, Blumenauer, DeFazio

The Oregonian endorsed congressional candidate Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) in OR-5 Sunday, saying he was ready to serve Oregonians in Washington D.C.

“Voters in Oregon's 5th Congressional District have an easy choice to make in the November election: They should elect Kurt Schrader, the veterinarian and respected state senator from Canby,” the editorial board wrote. “Schrader is a conservative Democrat who built a reputation during his decade in the Legislature as a hard-nosed numbers cruncher and advocate for performance-based budgeting.”

The paper also urged voters not to cast a ballot for Schrader’s campaign rival, Mike Erickson (R-Lake Oswego), whom they worry may be dissuading voters with a plethora of attack ads.

Erickson has not been shy about using his own money to fund his campaign, which has run a barrage of attack ads against Schrader. As of June 30, he had lent his campaign $1,565,920.40 during this election cycle. It will be unclear if Erickson had to provide more money to his campaign the past three months until his campaign finance numbers are released later in the week.

“Lake Oswego businessman Mike Erickson, is poorly prepared to serve in Congress,” the paper wrote. “Unlike Schrader, he has no experience in public office, shows a weak grasp of the issues and comes with a boatload of troubling questions about his integrity.”

Erickson has faced several scandals in recent months on incidents ranging from being accused of paying for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2000 to being accused of misrepresenting a 2004 trip to Cuba as a “humanitarian mission” when organizers of the trip said it was more of a vacation.

The paper also endorsed current Reps. David Wu (D-Portland), Greg Walden (R-Hood River), Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland), and Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield). The paper noted that none of them are facing significant challenges in their races.

Read the entire endorsement here.