Democratic U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum and Republican Patti Adair will meet in a televised debate Wednesday as they compete for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District seat. The debate is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will air on KTVZ 21, with a free livestream available at KTVZ.com. Bynum, 51, is serving her first term in Congress after four terms in the Oregon House. She won the seat in 2024 by 2.7 percentage points, turning it from Republican to Democratic control. The district stretches from Portland’s southeastern suburbs through Clackamas County and into central Oregon, including Bend. The contest is taking place in a district with a narrow partisan registration gap. Of its 548,852 registered voters, 30.5% are Democrats, nearly 27% are Republicans and 35% are unaffiliated, according to September figures from the state. The Cook Political Report rates the seat “solid Democratic,” despite the close result in 2024. Campaign finance figures show Bynum had raised about $3.76 million through June 30 and reported roughly $2.7 million in cash on hand. Adair, a two-term Deschutes County commissioner, had raised $423,921 by that date. Adair has criticized Bynum for accepting corporate political action committee contributions. The November election will decide who represents the district in Congress. Bynum’s 2024 victory was Oregon’s closest congressional race that year, making the district a closely watched contest even as its current rating favors the incumbent.