Former Republican Lawmaker Seeks Oregon House Seat as a Democrat

Voters in Oregon's coastal House District 32 will decide whether Cyrus Javadi returns to Salem under a new party label. Javadi, 49, has won the seat twice as a Republican. He changed his registration to Democrat last year after backing Gov. Tina Kotek's transportation tax package, which included a 6-cent gas tax increase.

The district runs from Astoria south to Neskowin and holds roughly 55,800 voters. Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 2,000 registrations, but nonaffiliated voters exceed both parties' totals. Republicans flipped the seat in 2020 after Democrats held it for 16 years. Javadi has been walking neighborhoods along the coast to reach those unaffiliated voters.

Republicans nominated Max Sherman, a 69-year-old farmer and retired high school teacher from Hebo. Sherman campaigns on cutting regulation and dismantling DEI initiatives while criticizing Javadi's shifting positions. "A lot of people here have lost trust in him," Sherman said. Lisa Lamping, chair of the Clatsop County Republicans who worked to elect Javadi in 2022 and 2024, called him an opportunist and said local Republican reaction ranges from anger to "good riddance." Former Democratic legislator Betsy Johnson, who represented the area for two decades and ran for governor as a nonaffiliated candidate in 2022, has endorsed Sherman in TV ads.

Javadi was the only Republican to vote for Kotek's $4.3 billion transportation plan, saying he wanted money to repair roads and bridges damaged by wind and rain in his district. Voters rejected that package in May. Javadi said the result showed people want repairs without the gas tax, though he maintains the state needs new road funding. He said the May vote rarely comes up when he knocks on doors, even after meeting 30 or 40 people in a day.

Raised in what he called a "very conservative" Mormon family in Utah, Javadi said he found his Republican colleagues' arguments unconvincing. He backed a Democratic bill making it harder for school districts to ban books, citing his gay son, and helped argue for a measure raising federal Medicaid funding through taxes on healthcare providers. He has written Substack posts explaining his changes and said he uses artificial intelligence mainly to edit and organize while writing the entries himself.

Both candidates have raised more than $1 million, which could make this the state's most expensive House race this year and has funded ads in the Portland market reaching the district. Sherman called the contest "a total toss-up" that "could be a nail-biter." Javadi said he plans to keep knocking on doors until Election Day.

Sherman cites his work in agriculture, fishing and forestry as the North Coast's economic engines. He also prioritizes funding the Oregon Department of Transportation while running as an anti-tax candidate. Lamping noted Javadi once opposed taxes and abortion and now carries a Planned Parenthood endorsement. Javadi, who said he stands by his values, has welcomed some Democrats, including a Tillamook woman who called herself a "big-time liberal."