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- Republicans in Oregon's 4th Congressional District will choose between Monique DeSpain and Stefan Strek in the May 19 primary.
- Monique DeSpain is a retired Air Force colonel and attorney focusing on immigration, crime, and the economy.
- Stefan Strek is a student and disability advocate running on a platform of healthcare reform and accountability for COVID-19 policies.
This story has been updated to meet our standards.
Republicans in Oregon's 4th Congressional District will pick between two candidates for that party's nomination in the May 19 election.
Monique DeSpain, the Republican nominee in 2024, is trying again and making a similar pitch this year. She highlighted her experiences as an Air Force colonel, attorney and think tank policy expert. She accused incumbent Democrat Val Hoyle of corruption by saying she favored donors and enriched herself through stock purchases. DeSpain also says she can fix Oregon's problems of high costs, crime and homelessness, through a range of solutions.
Stefan Strek, the other candidate for the nomination, said he's running to share his unique vision for healthcare reform and to bring accountability for what he sees as Democrats' "war crimes" rolled out in the name of public health during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Monique DeSpain
Age: 62
Current job: Private sector attorney and public policy advocate.
City: Eugene
Relevant Experience: Retired U.S. Air Force colonel; Oregon Air National Guard; Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps attorney; private-sector attorney at Mannix Law LLC; executive director and legal counsel at Common Sense for Oregon; volunteer mediator and board member at the Center for Dialogue & Resolution in Eugene.
Campaign website: MoniqueForCongress.com
Campaign Facebook: @MoniqueforCongress
Campaign X: @MoniqueforOR
Campaign YouTube: @MoniqueDeSpain
DeSpain said “Oregonians are not heard” in Congress thanks to “partisan politics and special interests.”
DeSpain said Oregonians are facing high costs, crime and homelessness and incumbent Rep. Val Hoyle is prioritizing partisanship and self-enrichment.
“We need someone who knows how to work across party lines and produce results for the people of Oregon,” DeSpain said, calling herself “an independent voice focused on commonsense solutions” for secure borders, immigration reform, “restoring” public safety, reducing the cost of living and protecting natural resources.
DeSpain said the biggest challenge currently facing Oregon’s 4th congressional district is the “convergence” of an unaffordable economy and a “collapse in public safety” that includes drug use, property crime and street homelessness.
DeSpain said the solution is to close the southern border to prevent drugs and “exploited people” from entering the country. DeSpain said she would address cost of living by reducing “regulatory burdens” and government spending, especially through “accountability on homelessness, addiction and mental illness funding.”
Stefan Strek
Age: 35
Current job: Student
City: Eugene
Relevant experience: Disability advocate
Campaign website: vote4strek.com
Campaign YouTube: youtube.com/@StrekTubeGPT
Campaign X: @realStefanStrek
Campaign Instagram: @realstefanstrek
Campaign Facebook: Facebook.com/VoteStrek
Strek described himself as an “independent thinker” running primarily to bring his Direct Primary Care healthcare vision to Congress.
According to Strek, DPC uses technology to “cut out the corporate fluff from healthcare,” allowing direct connections between patients and doctors that cut costs.
Strek said the top challenge facing Oregon’s 4th District is “entrenchment of far-left domestic terrorists embedded in Oregon” in the nonprofit and public sectors, which he blames for lost timber, mining and fishing jobs, and high housing costs and taxes.
Strek said Democrats’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, caused “psychological trauma equivalent of war crimes across the entire general population.”
Candidate's answers to the following questions have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
The federal government has eyed, and subsequently backed down from, building U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in Lincoln and Coos counties. Do you support the development of an ICE detention center in Oregon? As a congressperson, what would you do to assist with, or stand in the way of, such a development?
DeSpain: Enforcing our immigration laws, and the law in general, requires the infrastructure to do so. Facilities intended to hold persons detained are a lawful, essential component of all law enforcement. If the presence of illegally present persons committing crimes here in Oregon is such that our law enforcement community needs a facility to secure them pending their processing, then yes, I support the federal government's authority to site and operate detention facilities in Oregon where operationally necessary and consistent with the federal government's constitutional responsibility to enforce immigration law.
I would not simply fund them and walk away. I would hold those facilities to rigorous standards of safety and humane treatment. You will never see me stand in the way of enforcement simply to score political points with activists, as our current representative does. We cannot demand border security and safety while simultaneously blocking every tool that makes it possible.
Strek: Oregon has long been identified as the American state with the highest per-capita homeless rate in the country, which is fueled by price-manipulated expensive housing, high taxes and drugs largely supplied by foreign cartels. Targeting networks that move illegal drugs across country and state lines requires that our state work with ICE and related federal agencies.
Every year, more people die from illegal drugs than combined total losses from the Vietnam War, and it’s about time we started winning the war on drugs here at home. If elected, I will aggressively advocate for federal funding, expedite permitting, and push back against activist lawsuits and sanctuary city obstruction. Oregon must be part of the solution, not a sanctuary for monsters. I’d be sure that local businesses get as many contracts for the construction and maintenance of these federal facilities as possible establishing new long-term jobs, and strengthening communities.
Reporter's notes: According to the latest federal Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, Oregon has the third highest per-capita rate of homelessness, behind New York and Hawaii.
According to the latest Centers for Disease Control data, 79,384 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2024. According to the National Archive, 58,220 Americans died in the Vietnam War, but estimates for "total losses," adding civilian deaths and military deaths for other participants, range from 1.4 million to 3.6 million.
Last year, Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” which combined tax cuts with cuts to healthcare and food programs. If you had been in Congress at the time, how would you have voted on the BBB? Would you have advocated for any changes?
DeSpain: While I would have voted yes for this bill and prevented an enormous tax increase for individuals and businesses, I would have advocated for more measured, targeted and tiered cuts to healthcare and food programs, and added clear language to find and end fraud in our medical and food programs. I support eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, Social Security and other onerous taxes on the working class.
The legislation produced results that genuinely matter to the 4th District: it extended tax relief that working families and small businesses depend on, invested $150 billion in national defense, and funded border security and enforcement infrastructure that Oregon communities urgently need. It is unconscionable that the Oregon Legislature and governor disconnected our state tax code from the federal code, causing Oregonians to lose consistent tax treatment by the state and snatching away the benefits extended by federal tax law.
I oppose the state legislature’s decoupling from federal provisions enacted by this bill meant to help the working class and the small businesses that employ them, such as auto loan interest deductions and improved bonus depreciation intended to encourage businesses to invest in equipment and jobs, thus growing businesses and our local economy.
Strek: So far as changes, I would have insisted that any large scale bill also include steps to move toward prosecution of government officials and their associates who participated in financial fraud and crimes against humanity during the Covid-19 era. The UN Mandela Rules define prolonged solitary confinement as, “that which lasts for more than 15 consecutive days.”
Legal Status: Prolonged solitary confinement exceeding 15 days is considered a form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
It’s important to recognize the Biden administration had people socially isolated for one to three years, depending where they lived. We have every generation currently affected by serious and legitimately defined emotional trauma.
Government should not endlessly expand entitlements, however, the level of support given to destitute Americans during COVID-19 demonstrates we can well afford to provide the basic necessities that all Americans require for an honorable and dignified quality of life.
Reporter's note: COVID-19 stay at home orders came from individual governors. According to USA Today, the longest stay-at-home order was New Hampshire's which lasted 11 weeks and three days.
The BBB also included a one-year measure barring clinics that provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, from accepting Medicaid for their other reproductive services. Do you believe Congress should extend that provision?
DeSpain: The law is clear: abortion policy is a state issue. State laws are determined by voters through their elected state representatives. I oppose federalization of this personal issue reserved to state law and to the people. I oppose federal overreach that advances a pro-choice or pro-life agenda. I will not support extending federal provisions that interfere with state authority.
Strek: I believe that Planned Parenthood may be in violation of antitrust laws by operating a monopoly on the abortion industry. Why does one company receive all federal funding on this issue? People are tired of hearing about the subject of aborting children; people want to hear about (metaphorically) aborting politicians, corrupt officials and how quickly we can pass *THAT* legislation.
As it says in the Mandela Accords for the United Nations, 15-plus days in isolation counts as torture and almost our entire American population was kept in solitary confinement for at least a year during the Biden Administration… how much damage was done to America’s social development of children?
We need an investigation to prosecute the child abuse and exploitation that was allowed to occur during the COVID-19 era, this includes abuses committed by DHS (which are widespread and documented, particularly in Oregon) with similar investigations for elder abuse cases.
Reporter's note: Even before the Big Beautiful Bill, federal funding was not spent on abortion.
Reporters have documented widespread failures of Oregon's foster care and elder care systems, but these problems pre-date the pandemic.
The cost of childcare is rising across the United States. What specific policy changes would you pursue in Congress to address this? Does fixing childcare require a major new investment in taxpayer dollars?
DeSpain: I support policy that promotes a healthy economy, businesses, jobs and an education system that prepares students for a competitive job market. Congress has a role in removing barriers to accessible, affordable, quality childcare by promoting a competitive childcare market for parents. The government has an important role in regulating and ensuring the safety of our children and the quality of our caregivers. The commonsense approach includes removing barriers and increasing competition, not shifting all responsibility of personal childcare expenses to taxpayer-funded government programs.
I would pursue two priorities. First, expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit so that families at all income levels get meaningful relief — making it fully refundable and increasing the allowable expense limits to reflect actual market costs. Second, support small business childcare benefits — including employer-provided care and dependent care FSAs — through targeted tax incentives that do not require a new federal bureaucracy to administer.
Strek: I’ve heard stories from parents who leave Oregon due to lack of childcare services.
Biden administration failures and COVID-19 regulations caused the childcare collapse. Childcare operations closed due to arbitrary class size reductions by government regulations. These businesses took decades, or multiple generations, to develop their teaching styles and educational standards. That was all crushed by Democrats, both elected and appointed officials.
Childcare costs are driven by inflation, taxes and over-regulation. I will pursue targeted tax credits for working families, flexible spending accounts, eliminate licensing barriers that limit supply and support school-choice options, including faith-based providers. Fixing childcare does not require a massive new taxpayer investment or federal takeover.
I got a pre-kindergarten education with basic math and cursive before kindergarten… and there weren’t electronics for anything. Parents and educators, not Washington bureaucrats, know what’s best for their children. Strong families and economic growth are the real solutions.
The Bureau of Land Management has proposed increasing logging in western Oregon to 1980s levels. Do you agree with this direction? As a congressperson, what would you do to help facilitate, or stand in the way of, increased logging?
DeSpain: Yes, I support returning our stewardship of Western Oregon's federal forests to the original intent of the O&C Act of 1937. I will prioritize a return to sustainable, active management that keeps our forests, air quality and communities healthy. Our forests have been neglected for decades. The result has been catastrophic wildfires, declining forest health and air quality, lost timber jobs and rural communities left without reliable revenue.
I was an early supporter of the bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act. In 2024, our current representative voted “no” to appease extreme partisan special interests. Under pressure from many of us, she voted yes to the same bill in January 2025.
I will work to accelerate BLM’s management reform, cut the bureaucratic red tape that delays and constrains timber sales for years, and ensure that increased harvest comes with strong environmental standards and community benefit agreements that support local mills and workers.
Strek: I recently wrote a research paper on Oregon’s wild boar populations, and believe that Oregon’s timber industry could be supplemented using Oregon as a manufacturing hub for the meat processing industry. Although wild boar previously reduced to negligible populations, they have returned. My proposal offers financial incentives for Oregon’s wild boar hunters, including cash and tax incentives for rural landowners affected by wild boar populations. Additionally, wild boar reduce the buildup of dead underbrush and the frequency of wildfires, making Oregon communities safer. Please visit www.vote4strek.com to learn more.
Let’s get logging to 1980s levels. Forest management creates family-wage jobs, reduces wildfires, and strengthens our economy. Democrat environmental policies resulted in multiple federally declared natural disasters for Oregon. If elected, I will expedite NEPA approvals, block lawsuits, hold the BLM accountable, and restore sustainable harvest levels. Oregon’s forests are valuable assets we must use them wisely.
Reporter's note: OPB reported earlier this year Oregon has essentially eliminated invasive feral pigs from the state.
Campaign finance reports
Campaigns supporting DeSpain have raised $814,735 between two political action committees: "Monique for Congress" and "Team Monique."
The following sources gave at least $12,000 to either of those committees:
- $98,502 raised through WinRed, the Republican counterpart to ActBlue.
- David Morgan, $14,000.
- Edward Levy, $12,000.
- Dennis Beetham, $12,000.
- Janet Beetham, $12,000.
- DeSpain herself, $12,000.
- Carrie Dice, $12,000.
- Rick Dice, $12,000.
- William Gander, $12,000.
- Kevin Hoar, $12,000.
- Kim Tae-Yun, $12,000.
- Victor Leupold, $12,000.
- Christine Murphy, $12,000.
- John Murphy, $12,000.
- Scott Salton, $12,000.
- David Morgan, $12,000.
Strek has not filed with the Federal Elections Commission. Candidates are not required to file if they raise less than $5,000.
Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached by email at