A national Super PAC that supports Republican women was revealed to be behind a last-minute spending spree in an attempt to sway the Democratic primary in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District in May. The group, Winning for Women Action Fund, spent $550,000 to try to nominate the candidate who lost in 2022 to the candidate they support for the general election, first-term Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
In the week leading up to the primary election, a new political action group called Health Equity Now purchased ads supporting Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner in her battle against fellow Democrat Janelle Bynum. Despite the significant amount of money spent, McLeod-Skinner was not successful, with Bynum winning the Democratic nomination with 69% of the vote.
Bynum’s campaign manager suspected the group was tied to Republicans and called the funding “shady GOP election meddling,” while McLeod-Skinner expressed support for the message of high-quality healthcare for all but was unaware of the group behind the funding.
The group, Health Equity Now, was entirely funded by Winning for Women Action Fund, which supports Republican women for office and has endorsed Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Both Winning for Women and Chavez-DeRemer’s campaign declined to comment on the group’s support for McLeod-Skinner, emphasizing that coordination between a candidate and a Super PAC on spending would be illegal.
The campaigns of Bynum and McLeod-Skinner also did not offer any comments on the situation. These revelations shed light on the involvement of Super PACs in influencing primary elections and raise questions about transparency and accountability in campaign financing.
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