Republican challenger Monique DeSpain (left) and Democrat incumbent Val Hoyle (right) are running for the Oregon U.S. House 4th District. Pictured in undated images provided by the campaigns.
Courtesy of the campaigns
The race to represent Oregonians living along the state’s central and southern coast and parts of the Willamette and Umpqua River valleys in Congress will be a rematch of 2024.
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, a Lane County Democrat representing Oregon’s 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, easily fended off her Democratic challengers in Tuesday’s primary election, with nearly 78% of the votes counted shortly after 8 p.m. Melissa Bird, a small business owner from Corvallis, had received nearly 19% of the vote, and Daniel Bahlen, a Eugene resident and former behavioral health professional, was at almost 3% of the vote.
Hoyle’s primary win means that once again, she’ll face Republican candidate Monique DeSpain in November.
Hoyle in the 2024 general election defeated DeSpain, an Air Force veteran and attorney, by nearly eight percentage points. But DeSpain, who said she refuses to give up on the people in the district, won the district’s Republican primary with almost 87% of the votes counted by 8 p.m., beating Stefan Strek, a Southern Oregon University student who has run unsuccessfully for governor and Congress in past elections.
Hoyle is a former state lawmaker of eight years and led the state’s Bureau of Labor and Industries from 2019 to 2023. She is in her second congressional term and if elected again, she said, she’d use her relationships across the district and political spectrum to serve as a liaison between constituents and federal agencies. Hoyle said she supports bipartisan legislation and investments that help the district, as well as fighting back against unconstitutional attacks from the Trump administration.
Hoyle had nearly $493,000 in her campaign account, according to federal records as of late April.
DeSpain has never held elected office before, but she worked for several years for one of the state’s most prominent Republicans, state Rep. Kevin Mannix of Salem. She spent much of her time in the military as an attorney with the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
If elected, DeSpain said she’d prioritize public safety by addressing the fentanyl crisis and supporting border security, as well as supporting small businesses and making Oregon more affordable. She also supports stewarding Oregon’s natural resources to create jobs and support forest management, as well as accountability with tax dollars.
DeSpain had about $247,000 left in her campaign account as of late April.
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