U.S. Army veteran Alek Skarlatos won Oregon fourth congressional district’s Republican primary on Thursday by the most votes in the history of the district.
“I’m very honored to have earned the trust of the Republicans of Southwest Oregon,” Skarlatos said in a statement on Thursday. “We plan on taking this great momentum into the general election.”
Skarlatos, who hopes to unseat Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), captured more than 69,000 votes and 86 percent of the votes with some ballots still outstanding.
The Oregon Republican nominee announced this week that he had outraised DeFazio by two-to-one in April.
Skarlatos said:
Our race is going fantastic. We out-raised DeFazio by $68,000 in the month of April, which is 2-1 to what he raised. We couldn’t be happier! Most of our support is coming from grassroots people from across the country. DeFazio’s support is coming from PACs and corporation.
DeFazio does not represent one of the 30 congressional districts that went for President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election and Democrats took during the 2018 midterm elections; however, Oregon’s fourth congressional district could serve as a potential pickup for Republicans in 2020. Hillary Clinton won the district by only .1 percent during the 2016 election, which is roughly 554 votes.
The Oregon Republican chided DeFazio for becoming increasingly leftist over the years, including pushing the Green New Deal.
“I think that’s a huge step in the wrong direction and would wreck the economy of the country,” Skarlatos said.
“He has gone very left recently,” the Oregon Republican said.
DeFazio has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1987, over thirty years.
Skarlatos said that he hopes to help Republicans take back the House.
“It’s a tough race, but it’s a very winnable district, but we look forward to helping President Trump win back the House,” Skarlatos said.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.