District 32 has 55,800 voters and $1 million in spending as Javadi runs as a Democrat

A coastal Oregon lawmaker who built his career as a Republican is asking voters to send him back to Salem as a Democrat, a reversal that has split his old party and drawn more than $1 million in spending on both sides. Cyrus Javadi, 49, twice won House District 32 before changing his registration last year. The contest against Republican Max Sherman has become the most expensive House race in the state this year, according to campaign filings.

House District 32 runs from Astoria south to Neskowin, with roughly 55,800 registered voters. Democrats outnumber Republicans there by about 2,000, a margin that has not held in recent elections: Republicans flipped the seat in 2020 after Democrats held it for 16 years. Nonaffiliated voters outnumber members of either party, which is why Javadi has been walking neighborhoods along the coast. He has said he would not be able to make the case for roads funding without new money, a position that put him at odds with his former colleagues.

Javadi was the only Republican to vote for Gov. Tina Kotek's $4.3 billion transportation package, which included a 6-cent increase in the gas tax. He changed his party registration soon after. Voters rejected the tax package by a wide margin in May, and Javadi has said the result showed voters want roads and bridges repaired without the gas tax. He has told voters the topic rarely comes up when he knocks on doors, even after meeting 30 or 40 people in a day. He also voted for a Democratic bill making it harder for school districts to ban books, an argument he tied to his gay son, and backed a measure using taxes on healthcare providers to raise federal Medicaid funding.

Sherman, 69, is a farmer and retired high school teacher from Hebo who cites his work in agriculture, fishing and forestry. His campaign pairs calls for fewer regulations and the end of DEI initiatives with attacks on Javadi's shifting positions. "A lot of people here have lost trust in him," Sherman said. He describes the race as "a total toss-up" that "could be a nail-biter." Both candidates have raised more than $1 million, money that has bought advertising in the Portland market reaching the district. Sherman says funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation must be a priority, though he runs as an anti-tax candidate.

Lisa Lamping, who chairs the Clatsop County Republicans and helped elect Javadi in 2022 and 2024, called him an opportunist who once opposed taxes and abortion and now carries a Planned Parenthood endorsement. She said local Republicans range 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 also endorsed Sherman in television ads. Javadi, raised in a "very conservative" Mormon family in Utah, has said he found his Republican colleagues' arguments unconvincing and has written Substack posts explaining his changes of position. He said 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.

Some Democrats have welcomed the switch, including a Tillamook woman who called herself a "big-time liberal." Javadi argues his evolution reflects his values rather than an abandonment of them.