Oregon House Race: Javadi Banks $1 Million After Switching Parties

Cyrus Javadi won his coastal Oregon House district twice as a Republican. Now he is asking voters to send him to Salem as a Democrat, a move that has turned his reelection bid into a focal point of state politics. The switch followed two decisive actions last year: providing the vote to pass Gov. Tina Kotek’s transportation tax package and changing his party registration.

Javadi, 49, argued that his district’s wind- and rain-battered roads needed new money that only a bipartisan approach could secure. He was the sole Republican to back Kotek’s $4.3 billion plan, which included a 6-cent gas tax increase. Voters in the district rejected that package by a landslide in May, a result Javadi now uses to explain his pivot without abandoning his support for road funding.

The race pits Javadi against Max Sherman, a 69-year-old farmer and retired high school teacher from Hebo. Sherman has spent his career in agriculture, fishing, and forestry, sectors he identifies as the North Coast’s economic engines. His campaign blends standard Republican themes, such as cutting regulation and dismantling DEI initiatives, with direct criticism of Javadi’s shifting positions. Sherman calls himself an anti-tax candidate, even while acknowledging the need to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Both candidates have raised more than $1 million, potentially making this the state’s most expensive House race this year. The funds have allowed them to purchase ads in the Portland market, which reaches the district. Sherman described the contest as a total toss-up that could be a nail-biter. Javadi has been canvassing neighborhoods along the coast, meeting as many as 30 or 40 people in a single day to explain his evolution.

The district stretches from Astoria to Neskowin and contains roughly 55,800 voters. While there are about 2,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, that margin has not decided recent contests. Republicans flipped the seat in 2020 after Democrats held it for 16 years. Nonaffiliated voters outnumber both parties and could prove decisive, a demographic Javadi is actively courting.

Local party officials have reacted sharply to the switch. Lisa Lamping, chair of the Clatsop County Republicans, who helped elect Javadi in 2022 and 2024, described him as an opportunist. She noted that Javadi once opposed taxes and abortion but is now endorsed by Planned Parenthood. Reactions among local Republicans range from anger to relief. Former Democratic legislator Betsy Johnson, who represented the area for two decades, has also endorsed Sherman in television ads.

Javadi frames his change as a strength rather than a flaw. Raised in a very conservative Mormon family in Utah, he said he found his Republican colleagues’ arguments increasingly unconvincing. Last year he supported a Democratic bill making it harder for school districts to ban books, citing his gay son, and helped argue for a measure using taxes on healthcare providers to raise federal Medicaid funding. He said the reward for doing the right thing was worth the potential costs of his vote.

His campaign promotes the message that he stands by his values. Some Democrats have welcomed the switch, including a Tillamook woman who called herself a big-time liberal. Javadi has written lengthy Substack posts explaining his changes of position, stating that he uses artificial intelligence mainly as an editor and organizer while writing the bulk of each entry himself. He plans to keep knocking on doors until Election Day.