George Santos isn’t the only one

| 7:00 pm EDT June 28, 2023
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As we’re getting nearer to the 2024 downballot elections, we’ve been making lists of which Republicans are the most vulnerable to losing their seats. Many of them live in districts that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 by overwhelming margins and could have a particularly difficult time raising funds at all for next year’s races.

George Santos, of NY-3 is one major example – as he won a district that voted for President Biden by double digits and he’s only managed to raise a pittance of the numbers he raised last cycle – while facing a number of financial scandals on his own and unwittingly becoming the face of the entire GOP as they face a tough election year. He’s also facing a formidable opponent in Anna Kaplan, a former child refugee turned state senator who doesn’t take kindly to Santos’ routine lying.

Now, House Republican Rep. Lori Chavez of OR-05, a district that voted for Biden by 9 points, is facing another formidable opponent. Chavez has so far managed to keep herself out of the news the way Santos has, but she’s being challenged by Janelle Bynum, a solid recruit for the Democrats who has already beaten Chavez twice before on similar turf – in two races for the Oregon House of Representatives in 2016 (a notoriously redder year than 2020 or 2022), and again in 2018, where Bynum won by eight points. Let’s get to work elevating her profile now – as this is a race that we not only can but must win if we are to take back the House in 2024.