State Senate Republicans are realistic; they are not planning on grabbing a bunch of seats this election cycle, but they are looking at taking back one seat that had always belonged to them.

State Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo), was a Republican when he was appointed to the seat, but after a couple of party identity crises, he switched his affiliation and caucused with the Democrats in the most recent legislative session. Now Westlund is vacating the seat to run for State Treasurer, and State Senate candidate Chris Telfer (R-Bend) is poised to take over.

“She’s been a real voice of sanity and reason on the City Council,” Senate Republican spokesman Michael Gay said. “She’s a certified public accountant and she has an eye for dollars and cents. She’s been a watchdog of taxpayer dollars.”

Telfer has a range of experience on the Bend City Council, but it was the limits of city government that made her decide to run for a state government position.

“The state has had a major negative impact on our life over here; I wanted to change that,” Telfer said.

For Telfer, that includes working with ODOT to lift moratoriums on zoning in regards to state highway use. Telfer says that transportation planners have been behind denying zone changes in Central Oregon, which has crippled economic development.

“The state is taking the stance of, ‘No we can’t do this,’” Telfer said. “They don’t understand rural issues.”

If elected, Telfer would be the only CPA in the Oregon legislature; so she’s got financial knowledge that could come in handy. Still, being a freshman senator, and a member of the minority, will limit her influence. But Tefler is not concerned by that.

“You pick your battles,” Telfer said. “I hope to write some legislation that is non-partisan, and I’m going to be collaborating to make legislation even better.”

But before she starts writing bills, Telfer has to get by her Democratic opponent; Maren Lundgren, a public defender specializing in representing children. What Lundgren has lacked in monetary support, she hopes to make up with traditional retail politicking. She also hopes a rising tide of Democratic registration in the Bend area will help too.

“I’ve done a lot of door knocking,” Lundgren said. “I really love it. People get excited to have me knocking on their door.”

If elected, Lundgren hopes to focus on issues for families as well as increasing opportunities in the green tech industry to increase the amount of jobs in Oregon. But she faces an arduous uphill climb in the senate race, where she is far behind Telfer in fundraising.

“I’m doing what I can to make sure people know about me,” Lundgren said, pointing out that the campaign had sent out mailers and would remain heavily involved in canvassing and phone banking.

Telfer says that with 15 days left in the election, she too will be doing a lot of door-knocking. After that, she says she plans on sleeping in on November 5. But only for a little bit; she has two meetings that day.

“I’m solution oriented,” Telfer said. “We all know what the problems are, but I have solutions.”

The District: SD-27 consists almost entirely of Deschutes County, and includes Bend, Redmond, and Sisters.

The Breakdown: When Westlund ran for the seat as a Republican in 2004, he faced nominal competition from Constitution Party candidate Don Loyd, and he won the seat with 82 percent of the vote. But voter registration in Deschutes County has changed the demographics of Bend toward the Democratic side. According to the Secretary of State’s office, there are 30,473 registered Democratic voters, and 28,538 Republicans.  Sprawling SD-27 may not be as impacted by voter registration in the Bend area, but the increase in Dems could help Lundgren.

The Intangible: Over 20,000 unaffiliated voters in the district.

The Issues:  Telfer’s biggest issues are land use, transportation, and health care. Lundgren said that if elected, she would focus on health care, the environment, and education.

The Money:  Telfer has raised $219,985.19 for her campaign, and has received $57,649.85 in in-kind contributions. Lundgren has raised $15,144.00 for her campaign, and received $3,149.00 in in-kind help.

Voter Reach: Telfer has been running campaign commercials on Bend-area television. Lundgren has relied more on mailers and canvassing to get word of her campaign out.