Results are shown on a big screen at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem where Marion County Democrats held their election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
This is a developing story and may be updated
A bad election for Democrats nationally had few reverberations in Oregon, where Democratic candidates are expected to keep or expand legislative majorities, swept statewide offices and lead in three competitive congressional races.
Results won’t be final until the election is certified Dec. 2, and some races — including Oregon’s competitive 5th Congressional District — may take days to call. Election officials in Oregon’s 36 counties are still processing returned ballots, verifying signatures on ballot envelopes and waiting for some ballots that were postmarked Nov. 5 to be delivered.
Republicans were victorious nationwide, with Donald Trump winning a second term four years after losing the presidency. There’s only one other president, Democrat Grover Cleveland, who rebounded like that, winning in 1884, losing in 1888 and regaining the White House in 1892.
Republicans also gained control of the U.S. Senate, winning Democratic seats in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio to reach 52 of 100 Senate spots. Democrats are expected to keep at least 44 seats, with races in Arizona, Maine, Nevada and Pennsylvania too close to call. Oregon’s two Democratic U.S. senators — Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley — were not up for reelection.
The U.S. House remains too close to call, thanks to races including Oregon’s 4th, 5th and 6th congressional districts. Democratic incumbents Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas in Oregon’s 4th and 6th are leading by about 10 points. Salinas declared victory Tuesday night in the 6th District against Republican Mike Erickson, but the Associated Press hasn’t called her race, nor has it called Hoyle’s 4th District, where she faces Republican Monique DeSpain.
Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum has a slimmer 2-point lead over Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer in the 5th District, with more results expected around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Democrats do well in Oregon races
Democrats are projected to win three Oregon statewide races, as they have in most elections for decades.
In the race for secretary of state, Democratic state Treasurer Tobias Read trounced Republican Dennis Linthicum, who was barred from running for reelection to the state Senate because of his participation in a six-week walkout protesting bills on abortion, gender-affirming care and guns. Linthicum, one of Oregon’s most prominent spreaders of election misinformation, sued to end the state’s mail elections before running to oversee elections. He had about 43% of the vote to nearly 54% for Read, while almost 3% of voters opted for Pacific Green Party candidate Nathalie Paravicini.
In the race to replace Read as treasurer, Democratic state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner prevailed over concerns that a third-party candidate would pull votes and that voters have an innate mistrust of women handling money. Steiner, who spent the past six years as one of the Legislature’s chief budget writers, is set to be Oregon’s first female treasurer after winning 49% of the vote.
And while Republicans fielded their strongest candidate for the attorney general’s race in years in former prosecutor Will Lathrop, former House Speaker Dan Rayfield is expected to win with about 53% of the vote to Lathrop’s nearly 47%. The Corvallis Democrat will take over for Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who built a national reputation for challenging the Trump administration during Trump’s first term.
Democrats win supermajority in state Senate
Bend City Councilor Anthony Broadman will flip the Bend-based 27th Senate District, now held by former Senate Republican Leader Tim Knopp. Broadman has captured close to 60% of the votes tallied so far, with more results expected from Deschutes County.
His win means Democrats will hold 18 of 30 seats in the Senate in 2025 — that’s enough to pass new taxes or increase existing ones without Republican support, but not enough to negate the threat of a Republican walkout. Oregon’s high two-thirds quorum requirements mean 20 senators need to be present to conduct business.
In other tightly contested races, incumbent Sens. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, and Chris Gorsek, D-Troutdale, are handily fending off challenges. Gorsek had about 55% of the vote to 44% for Republican Raymond Love, while Anderson was beating Democratic Florence City Councilor Jo Beaudreau with 53% of the vote to 47%.
Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Taylor welcomed the results in a statement Wednesday morning, saying “With upheaval and unreliable leadership returning to Washington D.C., now, more than ever, the Oregon state Legislature must stand up to protect Oregonians’ rights and freedoms. With the responsibility of holding a supermajority in our chamber, Senate Democrats will do everything in our power to make sure common sense wins out over chaos in our state, and I’m confident that we have elected the right leaders to make that happen.”
Balance of power in state House isn’t certain
The House is likely to stay at or near its current makeup of 35 Democrats and 25 Republicans, though some races remained too close to call.
The closest race is in the 52nd District in the Columbia River Gorge, where House Republican Leader Jeff Helfrich leads Democratic challenger Nick Walden Poublon by fewer than 250 votes and less than 1 percentage point. Helfrich trailed in early results but picked up steam as more ballots were counted.
In the coastal 32nd District, incumbent Republican Cyrus Javadi has almost 52% of the vote to nearly 48% for Democrat Andy Davis. A few hundred votes separate incumbent Republican Tracy Cramer and Democratic challenger Lesly Muñoz in the Woodburn-based 22nd District, which had the lowest turnout in the state in 2022.
Democrats would need to pick up one more seat in the House to reach the three-fifths supermajority required to create or increase taxes.
Voters on track to reject three ballot measures, approve two
Voters signaled they want to give lawmakers the authority to impeach statewide officials and make it easier for cannabis industry employees to unionize, but they’re not on board with ranked choice voting, an independent commission setting elected official salaries or a new tax on businesses that promised checks for all Oregonians.
The last, Measure 118, failed most dramatically, with nearly 80% of voters across the state rejecting it. Opposition led by the lobby group Oregon Business & Industry raised millions to defeat the measure and rallied a diverse group of opponents including unions, businesses and legislators from across the political spectrum.
Nearly 60% of voters opposed Measure 117, which would have instituted ranked choice voting for statewide and federal races. Cities and counties can choose to enact the voting system on their own — Benton County has used it for years and Portland is running its first ranked choice election this year.
Measure 116, which would have created an independent commission to set salaries for elected officials, is failing by about 7 percentage points. Measure 115, to allow the Legislature to impeach statewide officials, is passing with about 63% of the vote, and Measure 119, to ease cannabis union formation, is passing by 10 points.
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