Clackamas, Oregon: A black Oregon politician says one of her constituents called police as she canvassed a Portland-area neighborhood that she represents.

State congresswoman Janelle Bynum, who is running for re-election this fall, said she was knocking on doors, talking to residents and taking notes on her cellphone in Clackamas on Tuesday when a Clackamas County sheriff's deputy showed up.

Bynum said the deputy told her a woman called police because the politician appeared to spend a long time at homes and appeared to be casing the neighborhood while on her phone, The Oregonian reported.

The deputy asked if she was selling something, and she introduced herself as a state legislator and told him she was canvassing, Bynum said. She said she only had campaign fliers, her cellphone and a pen on her.

Bynum, 43, who won election to the state House in 2016, said she has knocked on thousands of doors and this was the first time someone reported her to police.