SALEM, Ore. -- Republican Mike Erickson's bid to topple Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley with a barrage of attack ads did not work, according to KGW-TV projections.

KGW has selected Hooley as the projected winner over her Republican challenger.

This was the only Oregon congressional race to create much heat going into the Tuesday election.

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Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley.

The 5th District race was considered the best Republican opportunity in Oregon to knock off a Democratic incumbent, and Erickson, a wealthy Lake Oswego businessman, took up the challenge with a largely self-financed campaign.

Although national Republican leaders considered it a key race, they left Erickson mostly on his own after the sex scandal involving U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida put the GOP on the defensive -- and no big Republican names made any campaign stops in Oregon.

Erickson campaign ads accused Hooley of being soft on crime and immigration issues, while an out-of-state group that ran the "Swift Boat" ads against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential campaign ran attack ads that accused Hooley of voting against pay raises and health care improvements for soldiers.

Hooley's campaign called the TV ads by the California-based Economic Freedom Fund "a total distortion" and "absolutely false," saying the five-term Democratic incumbent has a long record in Congress of supporting pay increases and more health care funding for the military and veterans.

Erickson poured $1.3 million -- including more than $1 million of his own money -- into his campaign.

He claimed Hooley was out of step with the 5th Congressional District, where Republican voters slightly outnumber Democrats across an area that stretches from the mid-Willamette Valley to the Oregon Coast, and includes Salem. It also has one of the highest concentrations of Hispanic voters, helping to put immigration reform at the top of the list of campaign issues this year.