Voters for Responsive Government, a political group founded last month to rally Portland voters against Congressional candidate Sushila Jayapal, spent an additional $1 million on negative ads last week and It was revealed that the total expenditure was over $2.3 million.
Negative advertising is inflammatory and somewhat misleading. They are trying to pin the failures of the Multnomah County Commission and its powerful chairman solely on Jayapal. Jayapal was one of five commissioners who ran the county from 2019 until his resignation at the end of 2023.
One flyer features a photo of a dog in a cage, taken from an Oregonian/OregonLive report about an abandoned dog at the Multnomah County Animal Shelter while Jayapal was on the commission. Another resident said that in response to the local drug crisis, Jayapal and the county commission gave drug addicts “cracked pipes, straws, and aluminum foil.”
In fact, the county’s plan to provide smoking supplies to fentanyl and meth users as a harm reduction method never materialized until it was postponed last summer. And the problems at the county animal shelter existed long before Jayapal joined the commission.
Jayapal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Voters who support “responsive government” have not yet disclosed their federal government donors, making it difficult to ascertain who is sponsoring negative advertising. The new California-based political committee does not have to reveal its donors until May 20, the day before Oregon’s primary election. Like other similar committees, it is required to promptly disclose significant spending on or against candidates, but it only discloses spending on Jayapal. The website also has negative advertisements only for her.
But Jayapal is not the only one in the heat of the election. Jayapal and his opponent, Gresham City Councilman Eddie Morales, are both “MAGA Republican candidates” whose candidate, Maxine Dexter, is spending millions of dollars to undermine progressive candidates of color. has repeatedly accused its supporters of benefiting from outside support from political groups it funds. They provide little evidence to support the claim that Dexter supporters support Trump or candidates aligned with Trump.
Dexter, a state legislator and physician, has so far received $1.96 million in outside support from the 314 Action Fund, an organization that supports STEM professionals running for office. Mr. Morales said this spring that he did not know who was making large donations to the historic political committee and accused Mr. Dexter of being “involved in a conspiracy” with 314.
Dexter also reported raising $575,000 in April alone, mostly from out-of-state donors, and $218,000 in one day in May. More than 40% of her massive income on May 7th came from donors who gave to pro-Israel lobbying groups, some to Republican candidates.
Dexter’s Salem colleagues defended her in a letter released by her campaign on Monday. Thirty Democratic members of Congress, including leaders of both the House and Senate, signed the letter, calling Dexter a “man of great integrity” who has earned a reputation as a principled and effective lawmaker.
“As a physician, (Dexter) took an oath to do no harm and to put patients’ best interests first. She has taken the same approach as a member of Congress,” the letter reads. She said: “Her belief that she would be subject to the dictates of some group or special interest is repugnant and wrong.”
Federal filings last week showed Mr. Dexter has a fundraising lead over Mr. Morales and Mr. Jayapal. Jayapal previously said she expected the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to work together to oppose her in her campaign. One of Dexter’s donors, who has made large donations to AIPAC-affiliated organizations in the past, told The Intercept last week that she had no recollection of directly donating to Dexter, but that she supported candidates requested by AIPAC. He said he is doing so.
“I do all my giving through AIPAC,” donor Joan Dallesman told The Intercept. “Whenever a candidate they support asks me to donate, I’ll donate.”
Sami Edge covers higher education and politics for The Oregonian. She can be reached at the following address: sedge@oregonian.com or (503) 260-3430.
