Oregon Democrats won big in Tuesday’s elections, but a few others had to wait until Thursday to celebrate. The longest statewide race to hold out was for U.S. senator, where Democrat Jeff Merkley ousted Republican Sen. Gordon Smith.
For Merkley, it was a remarkable personal victory. The state House speaker and policy wonk was far from the first choice of national Democrats looking for a challenger to Smith.
“There’s a lot of work for us to do together,” Merkley told a crowd of supporters Thursday morning as they jammed a room at Portland State University and spilled into the hallway.
In the secretary of state race, Democrat Sen. Kate Brown defeated Republican Rick Dancer. The race for secretary of state picked up in recent weeks when Dancer and Brown began airing dueling TV ads.
Dancer ran on a platform of making the office nonpartisan and hoped to capitalize on the name recognition he had cultivated during his time as a Eugene television reporter.
Brown, a former Oregon Senate majority leader, had strong support from the Democratic establishment and promised to launch rigorous audits of government agencies, crack down on initiative fraud, and ensure fair and open elections.
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