The race between former Eugene Mayor Jeff Miller and incumbent Vicki Walker, D-Eugene, for the District 41 seat was too close to call as of press time, but other local and state Democrats made a clean sweep of their contests Tuesday.
At 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, the last update before deadline, Miller was leading Walker with 50.7 percent of the vote. With 64.8 percent of the vote counted, Miller led by only 329 votes.
The predominantly Democratic crowd at the Lane County Fairgrounds watched its local hero slowly gain ground against Miller throughout the night. Until 10 p.m., Miller held 52 percent of the vote, with 44 percent of the precincts reporting. But Walker remained optimistic as election officials released early results and assured her supporters at the fairgrounds, “You watch, they’ll change.”
Miller left the fairgrounds about 11 p.m. and couldn’t be reached for comment before deadline.
The other local Democrats had an easier time in their contests, crushing their Republican opponents by large margins even though all the votes haven’t been counted.
Democrat Phil Barnhart won decidedly against Republican Dr. Bill Young and Socialist Karl Sorg.
Barnhart, who said he felt confident about his race from the start Tuesday, was more concerned about the number of Democrats elected to the legislature.
“With a Democratic majority it will be easier to deal with issues such as education funding,” Barnhart said.
Young, a local veterinarian, had no previous political experience. He had said his community service made him a viable candidate and, on election night, he was pleased with his community-based campaign.
“We ran an old-fashioned race with a lot of volunteers, [and] very little money,” Young said. “I’m glad I gave people a choice.”
Incumbent Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., easily won his race against Republican John Lindsey. DeFazio, a Eugene native, led the race from 8 p.m., when election officials released the first results.
“I feel like I had a strong vote of confidence from the beginning,” DeFazio said.
DeFazio was given his own room for the evening, where supporters for the incumbent and other Democratic candidates watched two televisions for election results.
Lindsey couldn’t be reached for comment before press time.
Almost 300 people paced nervously around the fairgrounds past midnight on Tuesday, and political supporters and the media fought for the few printed copies of updated results that election officials distributed every hour.
As in previous years, a group of local anarchists arrived at the fairgrounds to make sure their voices were heard on Election Day, frequently in the frame of local television cameras.
As a reporter interviewed Eugene Mayor Jim Torrey, who ran unopposed this year, an anarchist stood behind the mayor holding an upside-down American flag. Bob Avery, a Miller supporter, tried to stop the anarchist, who wouldn’t give his name.
“It’s sad they acted so juvenile,” Avery said.
Local supporters of the presidential candidates, decked out in buttons and stickers, also gathered at the fairgrounds. The fate of Oregon’s seven electoral votes remained uncertain throughout the evening, but Lane County supporters of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader said the final result didn’t diminish their desire to vote for the consumer advocate.
“I didn’t throw my vote away. I voted my beliefs,” said Cherie Stamm, a Eugene resident and Nader supporter. She said her vote was also part of a national movement to make major party candidates accountable for what they say.
Many Oregon residents were split between their desire to support Nader and their desire not to see Bush elected to the White House. But others, such as Eugene resident Turlis Zilbrandt, said Nader simply represented his beliefs better than the other candidates.
“The Democrats don’t represent the more liberal people,” Zilbrandt said.