Candidate supported by Bankman-Fried-linked PAC loses Oregon primary
Andrea Salinas has won the Democratic primary election for the newly created Oregon 6th District seat in the United States House of Representatives. Practically since it started, the election race was the object of intensive media attention, which most often centered around Salinas’ opponent Carrick Flynn, whose campaign was generously funded by the Protect Our Future political action committee (PAC) backed by billionaire FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The PAC paid for a flood of advertising supporting Flynn.
Salinas won the seat with 38% of the vote, while Flynn came in second at 19%, with the remaining votes split among seven other candidates.
Salinas had a solid political background, serving three terms representing Portland’s upscale Lake Oswego suburb in the state House of Representatives. Before that, she was a legislative aide in Washington and worked for an Oregon environmental group. Flynn, an Oregon native who left the state after he graduated from college in 2008 and returned in 2020, was lifted from obscurity through the support of the PAC.
Flynn was also the recipient of $1 million in support from the House Majority PAC, which is closely associated with House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Sen. Elizabeth Warren countered that move by endorsing Salinas. Flynn appeared to be a serious contender in a poll released on May 7. Protect Our Future changed its advertising tactics a few days after that, shifting from ads predominantly featuring Flynn’s difficult rural childhood to attack ads on Salinas, accusing her of being under the sway of the pharmaceuticals industry.
Protect Our Future’s stated goal is “to help elect candidates who take a long term view on policy planning […] guided by a series of key principles” that include
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