The Democratic Party of Lane County (DPLC) is working to coronate Val Hoyle to U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s soon-to-be-vacant seat. Just hours after DeFazio’s retirement announcement, Hoyle released a ready-made press statement with her intention to run in a clearly coordinated move that many of us in the community have been expecting for years.

Yet Hoyle does not represent the increasingly progressive make up of Eugene, and District 4 broadly. All it takes is a quick glance at Hoyle’s campaign contributions to know this: contributions awash with the names of corporations and business interests invested in maintaining the status quo. Of particular interest is a $5,000 donation from the recently defeated and highly contentious Jordan Cove liquid natural gas pipeline and export terminal, which worked for close to two decades to ram a fossil fuel pipeline through sacred Indigenous lands for the profit of a Canadian corporation. 

We must show the DPLC that it is voters that elect our representatives, not the party establishment or the fossil fuel industry. Our district deserves a champion that can build on Rep. DeFazio’s legacy of advocating for justice. Our district deserves bold leadership in this moment of national crisis. Our district deserves an unapologetically progressive candidate like Doyle Canning, not a machine-backed, fossil fuel sponsored political insider.

Sylvia Titterington

Eugene

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