The Oregonian - Kitts Plans Challenge To David Wu In Congress

Kitts Plans Challenge To David Wu In Congress

Kitts, a Republican, played a major role in campaign-finance disclosure legislation

By Dave Hogan

The Oregonian
January 26, 2006

SALEM --Rep. Derrick Kitts, R-Hillsboro, announced Wednesday he will run against Congressman David Wu rather than seek re-election to the Oregon Legislature this year.

Kitts said the race will offer voters a clear choice because he differs with the Portland Democrat on many issues, ranging from trade and taxes to immigration and property rights.

"The harder thing is to find something we agree on," he said in an interview. "I think the congressman has time and time again voted wrong for the district."

Kitts, 32, is in his second two-year term in the Oregon House. In the 2005 Legislature, his fellow Republicans selected him as majority whip, which put him in charge of counting and rounding up votes for legislation.

He also was chairman of the House Elections and Rules Committee. His biggest accomplishment was shepherding through a bill that made several changes in campaign-finance disclosure laws.

Republican Everett Curry announced Wednesday that he will run for Kitts' seat in the state House.

He announced his candidacy Wednesday while appearing on the Lars Larson radio show, where he said he supported Measure 37, the property-rights initiative approved by Oregon voters in 2004. He also said he would not vote to raise taxes.

Kitts faces an uphill battle. First elected in 1998, Wu is expected to seek a fifth term in Congress, where returning members are famously difficult to defeat.

Wu has a head start in raising campaign money --more than $435,000 in the bank as of last fall, according to his latest report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Kitts said he knows winning the race would be expensive, and he plans to run a million-dollar campaign. "We're anticipating somewhere between $1.2 million and $1.6 million," he said.

Wu has a slight voter registration edge. Of the nearly 410,000 voters in the 1st Congressional District, 38 percent are Democrats, 35 percent are Republicans, and 24 percent are non-affiliated. The district covers the northwest corner of Oregon, including Portland's West Hills, McMinnville, Beaverton and Hillsboro.

Kitts is a Portland State University graduate who has operated a landscaping business and worked as a consultant on various campaigns in Oregon. In recent months, he has been working on a variety of duties for Kevin Mannix's campaign for governor, including strategy and fundraising. He said that work will be scaled back, but he doesn't know whether it will end.

Kitts hasn't formally filed the papers to become a congressional candidate, but he said he expects to do so this week or early next week. Then he pledges to use his energy and campaign experience to contact and win over as many voters as he can.

"I'm confident nobody is going to outwork me," he said.

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