Congressional Candidates

All five of Oregon’s incumbent U.S. Representatives are running for reelection.  All five have been in office long enough to create a clear record of their views and actions on immigration policy.  NumbersUSA tracks voting records of members of Congress on immigration bills, and based on their voting histories as of April 2018, NumbersUSA gives Oregon’s incumbents the following overall grades for their voting records on immigration issues:

CD 1 – Suzanne Bonamici – F-

CD 2 – Greg Walden – C-

CD 3 – Earl Blumenauer – F-

CD 4 – Peter DeFazio – F-

CD 5 – Kurt Schrader – F-

NumbersUSA has questionnaires for candidates and rates candidates on their answers.  Currently, Mark Callahan, candidate in CD 5, opposing incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader, and Jo Rae Perkins, candidate in CD 4, opposing incumbent Rep. Peter DeFazio, have the highest rating that Numbers USA gives, labelling them both “True Immigration Reformers.”

OAAVEP 2018 candidate survey

No incumbents replied to the questionnaire of the Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project, but several of the challengers to incumbents did reply. These candidates returned answers:

CD 1 – Ricky Barajas (D), Michael E. Stanfield (D)

CD 2 – Randy Pollack (R), Paul J. Romero Jr. (R)

CD 3 – Eric Hafner (D)

CD 4 – Jo Rae Perkins (R), Stefan G. Strek (R)

              Arthur B. Robinson (R) - His answers from 2014 are listed.

CD 5 – Mark Callahan (R), Joey Nations (R), Robert L. Reynolds (R)

Jo Rae Perkins, Mark Callahan and Joey Nations all spoke at the OFIR meeting in February, giving their views on immigration.  Callahan is a member of the Board of OFIR.

Individual candidates’ replies to the OAAVEP survey can be seen by clicking on the “Answers” links in the OAAVEP list of 2018 Congressional candidates.  There are 45 questions in the survey; questions 22 through 26 and question 44 deal with immigration.

OAAVEP has prepared a comparison guide for answers of Congressional candidates which simplifies comparing their views.  See the comparison chart for candidates here:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRnRjF2H90OaQ-zMb4iw4ge-5vCxA__Ex3olL3V36ZtISlVJwOE1JaQjNk1tgoBFmyNzXrBRarPa3JT/pubhtml?gid=252468302&single=true

The immigration questions in the 2018 OAAVEP survey asked Congressional candidates:

22.  Do you support requiring all employers to use the Federal E-Verify system to determine the employee’s work eligibility status to work in the United States?

23.  Do you support requiring proof that immigration law enforcement has been established before any form of amnesty is considered?

24.  Do you support withholding federal funds to sanctuary cities that do not cooperate in federal immigration law enforcement?

25.  Do you support spending public funds to benefit illegal aliens?

26. Do you support automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. when both parents are not legal residents?

44.  How would you propose screening war refugees to prevent potential terrorists from entering the country with them?