Skarlatos: GOP 'Surging' in OR After 40 Years of Democrat Control

Oregon Republican Alek Skarlatos, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran running in the state’s fourth congressional district, told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview that Republicans are “surging” across the state after Democrats have failed there with 40-plus years in power.

An RRH Elections poll found that the race for Oregon’s fourth congressional district is tied at 45 percent each between Skarlatos and Democrat Val Hoyle.

Other polls found  that Oregon Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan leads slightly against Democrat Tina Kotek.

Skarlatos said that the Republican strength across statewide races in Oregon is a rejection of roughly 48 years of Democrat control in Oregon because the state has only worsened over those decades of Democrat control.

“In Oregon, we are Democrats, top to bottom, in some of these counties, their county commissioners Democrat or state rep[represenative] is Democrat, state senators, Democratic congressman, their U.S. senators, Democrats, the governors are Democrats,” Skarlatos explained. “Now the President is even Democrat. It’s impossible for them to pass the buck because they’ve had control of the state for over 40 years. And now you’ve got a Democrat president who is following through on everything they’ve always promised. And the results are not what anyone thought they would be, at least on the Democrat side of the aisle. And so the Democrats in Oregon cannot blame anyone but themselves.”

He continued, “And so they’re trying to pass the buck and call Republicans extremists and whatever else they can because they can’t run on the issues. And that’s why Republicans in Oregon I think are surging more than other states. Oregon is not as Democrat as most people believe. The Democrats have had power for 40 years and people start to realize, hey, this isn’t working out. We’ve given them 40 years of power and now they have power over the presidency. And things are significantly worse.”

He said that Oregon Republicans are now focusing on pocketbook issues that are gaining traction such as fighting inflation.

“I think most Republicans in Oregon responded to comments on the campaign like hey, ‘let’s just fight inflation.’ And everyone cares about pocketbook issues and different types of campaigns. And, you know, maybe you should actually vote for a Republican this year because the Democrats for 40 years haven’t worked,” he said.

Skarlatos said if he were elected he would like to serve on the House Agriculture Committee or the Committee on Natural Resources to help the fourth congressional district’s timber and fishing industry, which has been ailing for the last 30 years.

He said, “I would like to serve on natural resources or AG, just so that I could actually try to make some changes for either the fishing industry or the timber industry, just so we can get back to making money and get back to work in the fourth congressional [district].”