Christian Honl will challenge incumbent state Rep. Cyrus Javadi, who is running as a Democrat. (Courtesy of Christian Honl)
After the state representative he voted for in 2024 switched political parties, Astoria resident Christian Honl decided to enter the race himself.
Honl, a retired tech professional, is running to represent Oregon’s House District 32, which stretches along the state’s North Coast from Astoria to the northern edge of Lincoln City. He is challenging incumbent state Rep. Cyrus Javadi, a Tillamook lawmaker who announced in September that he would run as a Democrat in 2026, citing conflicting views with the Republican Party under President Donald Trump’s leadership. Javadi has angered constituents, like Honl, who claim he betrayed the Republican Party by taking stances supporting LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, welfare and increasing the gas and payroll tax to fund Oregon’s road maintenance and public transportation.
“He made promises to the Republican Party that he didn’t keep,” Honl said. “He voted the opposite of what he said he would. He said he was pro-life. He said he wasn’t going to vote for any new taxes, then he voted for this transportation bill and then converted to a Democrat. I actually feel kind of betrayed.”
A lifelong Oregonian, Honl worked for Intel for 27 years where he managed global engineering teams and later worked on gaming technology. After retiring, he and his wife moved back to Astoria, where he sits on the Clatsop County Health Care Board — a role he said was a step to begin a career in public service.
Honl’s district includes mostly Democratic-leaning Clatsop County and also Tillamook and Columbia counties, which lean Republican. The roughly 16,500 Democrats in the district outnumber the roughly 14,000 Republicans, but nonaffiliated voters are the largest group with more than 20,700 voters. Honl said he understands the district he lives in is purple, and he would work to represent Democratic voices as well.
His campaign priorities include restoring logging and commercial fishing jobs, expanding housing and supporting social services — issues also cited by his opponent.
“I grew up here,” Honl said. “I lived and breathed all these things. I know people in the fishing industry, in the logging industry, and I know what’s happening.”
Honl opposes abortion, referencing his experience as someone adopted from a teenage mother. While he said he cares about immigrants without permanent legal status, he claims that extending Medicaid coverage to them through the state’s Healthier Oregon program diverts funding meant for seniors and other vulnerable Oregonians.
Undocumented immigrants make up about 7% of all Oregonians covered by the state’s Medicaid program. Advocates argue, and several studies from the University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame and Massachusetts Institute of Technology show, that when undocumented immigrants lose health care coverage, the costs shift to hospital emergency rooms, inherently more expensive than preventive care, and commercial insurance ratepayers.
“I deeply care about this district,” he said. “I want it to thrive. I want it to come back to some of the glory it had before, with some of the industries coming back. I want to help, and I want to listen.”
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