PORTLAND, Ore. — With less than two weeks to go before Oregon's May primary election, some races are getting particularly heated — spawning a relentless stream of political ads. And those ads don't happen without some significant fundraising, the source of which has been stirring up controversy in the hotly contested Democratic field for Oregon's 3rd Congressional District.
The 3rd District includes most of Portland and east Multnomah County, as well as parts of Clackamas and Hood River counties. For decades, that congressional seat has been firmly held by Rep. Earl Blumenauer. He announced last year that he'd be retiring, and now three frontrunners each hope to take up his mantle.
Dr. Maxine Dexter is a state representative as well as a pulmonary and critical care doctor. She's up against former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal, whose sister Pramila is a congresswoman from Washington, and Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales.
There's little question that someone from the Democratic field will end up a member of Congress when all is said and done. The 3rd District is solidly blue, which means the primary will essentially determine who takes office next year.
Last week, Jayapal and Morales joined forces to accuse Dexter of benefiting from "dark money" donors, a message they're sticking with in the final stretch of the campaign.
Jayapal and Morales held a joint press conference to highlight the $1.6 million in spending Dexter's campaign indirectly received through a group called 314 Action.
"Maxine Dexter has said repeatedly that she agrees that we need transparency in politics. In fact, just two months ago, she supported the landmark campaign finance reform law that we passed here in the Oregon Legislature," Morales said. "But now, hypocritically, she is relying on 314 Action, a D.C.-based dark money group that can drop millions of dollars into any single race. These groups act as fronts for donors so they can get around our campaign finance and disclosure laws."
The two candidates allege that 314 Action is a front for far-right Republicans aligned with Donald Trump, trying to take them out of the running.
"Those same organizations have also been funding anti-choice politicians, election deniers and insurrectionists, and they spend at staggering rates against progressive candidates and candidates of color," Jayapal said.
That's a far cry from what 314 Action claims to be about. On its website, the group says it's on a mission to elect more scientists to office — everything from Congress down to local offices. They claim that they're focused on recruiting, training and electing Democrats with a background in science.
Their reasoning, according to the group, is that politicians with a science background will in fact fight for reproductive rights and tackle issues like climate change.
And the candidates they've endorsed do indeed have a science background — several of them are people of color, including another Oregon race, where they've endorsed state Rep. Janelle Bynum, an engineer, for the 5th Congressional District race.
KGW asked Jayapal and Morales where they're getting the idea that 314 Action is funded by "MAGA Republicans," which seems counterintuitive on its face.
"What we know is that there are MAGA Republican donors and groups that are funneling money into elections. We're asking for transparency," Jayapal continued. "So, what we know is that this spend for 314 Action is outside anything that it has ever done before. It has never spent this kind of money in a race before. We know that the pattern of donations that they've been receiving have been very unusual for them, and so we're asking for transparency."
In short, they won't cite any hard evidence connecting 314 Action to far-right Republicans — but they're able to speculate as much because specific donors can remain secret up until the day before the election.
The deadline to disclose that information is May 20, with the primary falling May 21. Since Oregon votes by mail, many of the votes will be cast ahead of the deadline.
Jayapal and Morales say they're concerned about why 314 Action is spending so much money in the final stretch of the race — it's more than they spent on independent expenditures for the entire 2022 election cycle. Jayapal said she thinks the specific donors could be connected to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group.
"I have known for some time that groups like AIPAC are considering coming into this race to oppose me," Jayapal said. "That is a group that has been receiving donations from Republicans; it has been interfering in Democratic primaries against progressive candidates ... and so, you know, I think both Eddy and I want to know where the money is coming from so that we can have the kind of transparency and integrity that voters deserve."
And there's some reporting that backs up Jayapal's suspicions: The Intercept reported that AIPAC is secretly injecting money into the 3rd Congressional race specifically to take her down, laundering it through an innocuous group to push Dexter across the finish line.
The outlet cites anonymous sources, reporting that two Democratic members of Congress told them that AIPAC voiced its intent to target Jayapal because she called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Jayapal also opposed a statement showing Portland's support for Israel, although she did condemn the October 7 attack by Hamas itself.
KGW reached out to 314 Action on Wednesday for comment. The organization was able to point to Democratic candidates they've supported over Trump-aligned Republicans in a number of races throughout the country, countering the claims that they're doing the bidding of the far-right.
In regards to spending on Dexter specifically, the group made clear that it follows FEC rules — indicating they will disclose donors on the day prior to the election as required, and not a day sooner. They did not deny the AIPAC link, but did assert that there's no evidence to support it.
“We are an organization founded by scientists and our movement is fueled by over 6 million grassroots supporters and 1.4 million small dollar donors who are energized by our mission to elect Democratic scientists to public office at every level, from Congress to school boards,” 314 Action said in a quote attributed to Shaughnessy Naughton, founder and president.
Last week, all three leading candidates came to KGW to discuss the campaign on "Straight Talk with Laural Porter." Dexter responded to the accusations by saying that she can't force a third-party organization to disclose its donors ahead of the deadline, but she supports changing campaign finance laws.
"This entire thing is frankly absurd. I have put my values on record — I have four years of voting record on progressive values," Dexter said. "I have stood firm with people who have supported me, and against people who've supported me. I took an oath of office, and I've taken an oath as a physician to keep people at the center and do no harm. My integrity is frankly being questioned here, which is absolutely offensive."
In a statement released on social media May 3, Dexter herself obliquely admonished a "dark money group" for bankrolling negative ads against her opponents.