PORTLAND, Ore. — The congressional race in Oregon’s newest district is on track to be another nail biter between Rep. Andrea Salinas and Republican Mike Erickson.
The new district was created following the 2020 census and includes parts of Southwest Portland, Salem, Woodburn, Yamhill County and Lake Oswego in Clackamas County.
Salinas won by just 2.5% points in November 2022 after previously serving three terms in the Oregon House of Representatives. Current polling indicates that it will be another tight race.
In this episode of "Straight Talk," Salinas and Erickson make their case on why voters should elect them to represent Oregon's sixth district.
Watch the full episode to listen to Rep. Andrea Salina and Mike Erickson discuss immigration and recriminalizing drug possession.
Editor’s note: When asked about his lawsuit against the Salinas campaign during this interview, Erickson incorrectly claimed that a judge ruled in his favor and “ruled against Andrea Salinas for slander and defamation.” The Salinas campaign filed a motion seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed as meritless, and the judge only ruled against that specific motion. Salinas appealed that ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals, which is still in the process of hearing the appeal. There has been no ruling on the overall case.
After Straight Talk aired, the Erickson campaign provided the following statement about what the candidate said on the show: "The campaign stands by Mr. Erickson’s statement because the judge did in fact rule in his favor. Although a final judgment has not yet been issued, the court transcript includes the judge’s statement: ‘the Erickson Committee has sufficient evidence to support a prima facie case establishing that the Salinas Committee published a false statement of material fact with knowledge or reckless disregard that it was false.'"
Cost of living
Like a lot of U.S. cities, Portland has seen a steep increase in the cost of living — particularly for housing and taxes, which has contributed to a population decline in the Portland metro area.
Inflation and rising grocery prices remain a top issue for voters not just in the presidential election but in all.
At the recent Oregon State Fair, Erickson said he heard from people who said that "they could barely afford their rent, they could barely afford food," and that utility and rent prices have all seen dramatic increases.
While a great deal of blame, largely from the Republican Party, has gone toward the Biden administration for the high cost of living, Salinas said it is not fair to group in all Democrats. She pointed out a measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington that she backed in 2023, which blocked China from buying oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to bring down gas prices.
Salinas said the hope is that it'll also allow utility and gas companies in the U.S. to make any needed infrastructure improvements to address climate crisis concerns.
"So, we are working on all of that," she added. "It's been really hard, though, when you have an intractable Republican Congress that doesn't want to meet the needs of working families right now and will really not address what is happening on the ground to family budgets."
Erickson's plan also looks at the impact the cost of fuel has on the economy. As a businessman that works in supply chain and logistics, he said one the biggest cost contributors of good's can be the price of diesel.
“If we can get our energy independence back up and lower the price of diesel so that the cost of goods being delivered across this country — that’s a bigger impact than what people realize," he said, "because those trucking costs are one of the biggest components from the farmers to a manufacturer or to wherever it may be."
While nationally the topic of reproductive rights remains a top issue among women voters, Erickson said that's not an issue he hears most often — which is largely inflation. Though, he added that he would not support a national abortion ban and believes that it should remain a state's issue.
“I, as a member of Congress, would like to push really hard on the Federal Reserve to get interest rates back to 4-5%," Erickson said, "because people can’t afford 8% interest rates when they are living paycheck-to-paycheck.”
Straight Talk airs Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 p.m., and Monday at 7 p.m. Straight Talk is also available as a podcast.