Two state Senate seats remained too close to call Thursday afternoon, two days after the election, but regardless of the outcome of those contests, a tide of statewide GOP victories evened the playing ground in the two Oregon legislature houses.
Oregon Republicans nabbed six new seats in the House of Representatives, evening out Oregon’s House of Representatives to 30 Democrats and 30 Republicans.
Oregon Speaker of the House Dave Hunt embraced the new House dynamic by promoting cooperation in government.
“Tuesday’s election marks a new era in Oregon,” Hunt said. “Voters in the 60 House districts are evenly divided. Those of us entrusted with conducting state business must now enter into new agreements, new working partnerships and with a renewed spirit of dedication to Oregon.”
If trends in the active Senate races continue, the state Senate will be divided 16-14 with Democrats holding the advantage.
Prior to Tuesday’s election, Democrats held super majorities in both houses, allowing them to dominate the pace and tone of sessions by setting the legislative agendas. Republicans already gained one seat in the Oregon Senate and remain in contention for two other senate seats: one in the 3rd district of Salem/Keiser and one in the 20th district of Clackamas.
In the Salem race, the most recent polls showed incumbent Democrat Alan Bates had crept into a 200 plus vote lead after trailing challenging Republican Dave Dotterrer by up to 900 votes.
In the Clackamas race, incumbent Democrat Martha Schrader may lose her seat to challenging Republican Alan Olsen, as she trailed him by several hundred votes late Thursday.
Senator Floyd Prozanski, who represents the University and a section of Eugene via the 4th District, said he thought Democrats would cling onto their majority in the state Senate, and that despite partisan politics, a balance in the legislature could create a more productive atmosphere.
“What this means is the closer you are in number, the more cooperative you have to work,” Prozanski said. “I’ve found that people who are very partisan become less partisan because they want to be effective in their district.”
Prozanski said the major challenges facing an evenly divided legislature, such as the situation in the house, are shuffling the committees such that they represent the parties equally and establishing an efficient workflow in the absence of a clear majority leadership. Regarding the Senate, Prozanski believed a moderate attitude was required of both the majority or the minority party.
“The bare minimum to pass a measure in the Senate is 16 (votes),” he said, “All 16 Democrats aren’t always going to agree. You’re still going to be working with centrists from both parties to get their support.”
GOP gains in Oregon paled in comparison to a massive push from Republicans on the national congressional stage.
In the federal government, Democrats lost six seats Tuesday in the Senate and 60 seats in the House with nine seats still in play. Republicans will have a majority in the house. President Barack Obama referred to the midterm election as a “shellacking” in a post election press meeting.
Tea Party Express, a right wing political group, said in a statement that it considered the 2010 midterm election results a boon for tea party’s anti-taxation politics.
“The biggest victory might be the fact that the impact of the tea party movement was so strong that everyone — even many Democrats — started adopting the messages and positions of the tea party movement,” Tea Party Express said in a statement. “The tea party movement will continue to hold both political parties accountable as the 2012 elections approach, and we at the Tea Party Express look forward to building on the election gains of Tuesday, to further strengthen and build the constitutional conservative constituency in the House, Senate and White House in 2012.”
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