Jamie McLeod-Skinner

McLeod-Skinner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When she was nine, her mother, Marty Hall, moved to teach school in Tanzania. She attended elementary and high school there and in Kenya.^[6] She moved in 1983 to Ashland, Oregon. She graduated from Ashland High School in 1985, where she still holds the girls' 800-meter track record.^[7] She went to college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree. She received a master's degree in urban and regional planning from Cornell University in 1995.^[8] She graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2016 with a Juris Doctor.^[8]

Beginning at the end of 1995, she served as a reconstruction and program manager in war-torn Bosnia and Kosovo. She led a Lutheran services organization from 2000 through 2002.^[9][10]

From 2016 to 2017, McLeod-Skinner was the city manager of Phoenix, Oregon, where she was fired after four months by Mayor Chris Luz, supposedly due to complaints from several department heads, though she stated that the decision was politically motivated.^[11][12] Ultimately, the city councilors were split. She went on to work as the interim city manager of Talent, Oregon, in 2020, hired after the Almeda wildfire destroyed over 700 homes,^[13] more than one-third of the city,^[14] and where there was substantial discord between the executive, administration, and city employees.^[9]

She served on the city council of Santa Clara, California, for eight years, from 2004 to 2012.^[8][15] In 2018, she ran in the Democratic primary for Oregon's 2nd congressional district, winning by 19.5% in a seven-candidate field.^[16] The district had been held by Republicans since 1981 and had only twice been represented by Democrats in its 121-year history. In the general election, she faced nine-term incumbent Greg Walden, a former state senator. She decided to run due to Walden's efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act. No Democrat had come within 36 percentage points of Walden since 2000. McLeod-Skinner lost by less than 17%. A political scientist took note of her run, as she had defeated Walden in Deschutes County though no candidate had come close before, with Carol Voisin outdoing all others, yet losing by almost 17,000 votes in 2006.^[17][10]

In 2020, she ran in the Secretary of State primary against two incumbent Democratic state senators, Shemia Fagan and Mark Hass. She focused her campaign on preserving and expanding voter rights and accessibility and did not accept corporate contributions.^[18] In the Democratic primary, the three candidates were separated by less than nine percentage points, with Fagan winning the election.^[19]

In 2022, McLeod-Skinner challenged moderate Democrat Kurt Schrader, a six-term incumbent whose district boundaries were substantially reordered by redistricting, as Oregon gained a sixth seat due to its population increase.^[20] Schrader had opposed some initiatives by President Biden, who nevertheless endorsed him, but the incumbent had alienated grassroots leadership in a number of counties.^[21] The new district took in Deschutes County and also included part of Multnomah County, a reliable progressive stronghold. She won both counties by double digits.^[22] Democratic Party leadership organizations in four of the five counties within the district's new boundaries supported McLeod-Skinner, who was also endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren.^[21] Schrader received 2022 endorsements from President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,^[23] and his campaign outspent McLeod-Skinner's by 10–1.^[24] Although he first referred to Trump's impeachment as a "lynching", he later voted for it.^[24] McLeod-Skinner's win marked the first time an incumbent member of Oregon's congressional delegation had lost a primary in 42 years.^[4] The primary divided the party, and Schrader refused to endorse her in the general election. McLeod-Skinner narrowly lost the general election to Lori Chavez-DeRemer.^[25] In 2023, she announced she would seek a rematch with Chavez-DeRemer.^[26][27]

The rematch with Chavez-DeRemer was derailed on 21 May 2024, when McLeod-Skinner lost in the primary to State Representative Janelle Bynum by a 40-percent margin.^[28]. In the lead up to the primary, multiple local newspapers reported McLeod-Skinner's verbal and emotional abuse of former campaign staffers, none of whom went on the record out of fear of retaliation. ^[29]. One staffer reported fearing that McLeod-Skinner would hit him. The campaign would later arrange for no contact between the staffer and McLeod-Skinner. ^[30]