Keri Lopez announced Tuesday she is throwing her hat into the ring for House District 53, currently held by first-term Democratic Rep. Emerson Levy.

Lopez said she plans to run in the Republican primary in May 2024 and, if successful, challenge Levy in the general that November. Lopez is the first Republican candidate to officially file.

“I want to win the seat,” Lopez told the Spokesman on Tuesday. “I wanted to get in and show people I’m serious about it.”

Lopez said tackling homelessness and problems with state education policy are among her top issues. She said that “collaboration and partnership” are key to increasing housing and decreasing homelessness throughout the state.

“Nothing is going to get solved if we stay in our silos,” she said.

Lopez is a resident of Tumalo and has been elected twice to the Redmond School Board. She won re-election in May and said the campaign will not affect her work and she plans to remain on the board.

She said that her years on the school board will give her important perspective in the Legislature.

“I’ve been a proponent of local control of the education system in Oregon,” said Lopez.

She said that a lot of the problems she’s run up against on the school board come from bad policies that trickle down from Salem. She said she’d work to undo some of the state beauracracy and empower local leaders.

House District 53 includes roughly the south Redmond, north Bend and western Deschutes County, including Sisters and Tumalo. Levy narrowly defeated Republican Michael Sipe in 2022 to win the open seat in a newly-drawn district. In August, Levy said she planned to run for re-election.