The 2008 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Gordon H. Smith
Gordon Harold Smith (born May 25, 1952) is an American politician, businessman, and academic administrator who served as a United States Senator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009. On Septe ...
sought reelection to a third term. Smith was the only Republican Senator from the West Coast (excluding Alaska) and the only Republican holding statewide office in
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. He was opposed by
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Jeff Merkley
Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley served as the 64th speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives ...
, the Speaker of the
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...
, and David Brownlow of the
Constitution Party of Oregon
The Constitution Party of Oregon is a political party organized as a minor party pursuant to state election law, and recognized by the U.S. state of Oregon as a statewide nominating party.
A state party was first organized under this name in 1952, ...
. Merkley won by a narrow margin, with Smith not conceding until two days after the election. Merkley became the first Democrat to win this seat since
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
. And since Smith was the only Republican holding statewide office in Oregon at the time, this was the first time since 1860 that no Republicans won or held statewide office in Oregon.
This was one of the most competitive races during the
2008 United States Senate elections
The 2008 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were up for regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 200 ...
., and the race was the most expensive in Oregon history. As of late October 2008, advertising related to the race exceeded $27 million, outstripping the $15 million spent on a 2007 tobacco tax ballot measure and the $14.7 million spent in the
gubernatorial election of 2006.
Democratic primary
Candidates
*
Jeff Merkley
Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley served as the 64th speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives ...
, Speaker of the
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...
*
Steve Novick
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve A ...
, attorney
* Candy Neville, real estate broker
* Roger Obrist, construction worker
* Pavel Goberman, perennial candidate
* David Loera, doctor
Campaign
In the
Democratic primary
This is a list of Democratic Party presidential primaries.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson ran to become the nominee, and faced the opposition of Speaker of the Unit ...
, although Democrats held all statewide offices in Oregon, there was no clear Democratic challenger; former Oregon Gov.
John Kitzhaber
John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Party ...
indicated early on that he was not interested. In January 2007, while the campaign was still in its infancy,
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
lawyer and political activist
Steve Novick
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve A ...
wrote a lengthy critique of Gordon Smith's record in the Portland ''
Willamette Week
''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture.
History
Early history
''Willame ...
''.
The article outlined a strategy to beat Smith, who Novick argued was actually more vulnerable than appeared. On April 18, 2007, Novick formally announced his candidacy for Senate.
By the end of May, both Congressmen
Earl Blumenauer
Earl Francis Blumenauer ( ; born August 16, 1948) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1996. The district includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River.
A member of the Democratic P ...
and
Peter DeFazio
Peter Anthony DeFazio (; born May 27, 1947) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Eugene, Springfield, Corvallis, Roseburg, Coos Bay ...
had announced they were not interested in entering the race, depleting what was considered by many the "first-tier" list of candidates for the position leaving Democrats searching for more candidates.
With no high-profile Democrats in the race, it was believed by that the most likely candidates would come from the state legislature. Since the legislature was still in session at the time it was considered unlikely that any prominent lawmakers would jump into the race until the end of June or later. Of those,
Jeff Merkley
Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Merkley served as the 64th speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives ...
, then
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** In ...
of the
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...
was considered to be the most likely to challenge Smith due to rumors that he had been in talks with the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Hill committee for the United States Senate. It is the only organization solely dedicated to electing Democrats to the United States Senate. ...
(DSCC).
The rumors that Merkley was being courted by the DSCC were confirmed when it was reported that he had travelled to the East Coast to discuss a possible run at the invitation of Senator
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
of
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, who as chairman of the DSCC was in charge of recruiting possible challengers to take on Smith.
Around the same time, State Senator
Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story '' Whistle Down the Wind'' to the " kitchen sink" dram ...
from
Jackson County was reported to be contemplating running for the Democratic nomination. Eventually Bates decided against running
and on August 1, 2007, Merkley filed papers, officially entering the race.
Merkley and Novick gave back-to-back speeches at the yearly summit of the
Democratic Party of Oregon
The Democratic Party of Oregon is the Oregon affiliate of the Democratic Party. The State Central Committee, made up of two delegates elected from each of Oregon's 36 counties and one additional delegate for every 15,000 registered Democrats, is ...
in
Sunriver. There Novick threw a political jab, challenging Merkley's statements that he had been an opponent of the war from the start by pointing to his support of a Republican-drafted non-binding resolution in 2003, two days after the invasion began, that praised President
Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
for the
invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...
and the efforts of the troops and prayed for their safety. The critique drew noticeably negative reactions from the crowd and Merkley won a straw poll at the summit, 103 to 50 for Novick.
Merkley went on to dismiss the criticism, pointing out that Legislative resolutions carry no force of law and are only statements of principle, that a legislator could freely pick and choose which parts of the resolution to support, and that he made clear that "you stand up and clarify what parts you're supporting and what parts you're opposed to and I did that more clearly than any member on the floor of the House."
By the end of November 2007, six Democratic candidates had filed papers to run for the seat: Novick, Merkley, real estate agent Candy Neville of
Eugene, retired mental health counselor David Loera of
Salem
Salem may refer to: Places
Canada
Ontario
* Bruce County
** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie
** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce
* Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...
, retired construction worker Roger Obrist of
Damascus
)), is an adjective which means "spacious".
, motto =
, image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg
, image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg
, seal_type = Seal
, map_caption =
, ...
, and perennial candidate Pavel Goberman of
Beaverton.
Some pointed discussions ensued among the candidates over a debate schedule and formats.
On January 22, 2008, four of the Democratic candidates had their first debate in
Pendleton Pendleton may refer to:
Places
;United Kingdom
*Pendleton, Lancashire, England
*Pendleton, Greater Manchester, England
;United States
*Pendleton, Indiana
* Pendleton, Missouri
*Pendleton, New York
*Pendleton, Oregon
*Pendleton, South Carolina
*Pe ...
, Oregon hosted by the ''
East Oregonian
The ''East Oregonian'' (''EO'') is a daily newspaper published in Pendleton, Oregon, United States and covering Umatilla and Morrow counties. The ''EO'' was the first-place winner of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association General Excellence ...
'' newspaper.
Merkley went on to defeat Novick and the four other candidates in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2008.
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
* Gordon Leitch,
ophthalmologist
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...
*
Gordon Smith Gordon Smith may refer to:
In politics
*Gordon H. Smith (born 1952), former U.S. Senator from Oregon, and current Area Authority for the LDS Church
* Gordon Elsworth Smith (1918–2005), Canadian politician
* Gordon Smith (academic) (1927–2009), ...
, incumbent U.S. Senator
Results
General election
Candidates
Major
* Jeff Merkley (D), Speaker of the State House
* Gordon Smith (R), incumbent U.S. Senator
Minor
* David Brownlow (C), at its statewide nominating convention on June 7, 2008, the
Constitution Party of Oregon
The Constitution Party of Oregon is a political party organized as a minor party pursuant to state election law, and recognized by the U.S. state of Oregon as a statewide nominating party.
A state party was first organized under this name in 1952, ...
named him as its Senate nominee.
Predictions
Polling
Results
County results
![OR- Merkley Rally (2929059757)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/OR-_Merkley_Rally_%282929059757%29.jpg)
Although Smith carried all but eight of Oregon's 36 counties, one of the counties he lost was
Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...
, home to Portland. Ultimately, Merkley's 142,000-vote margin in Multnomah, his home county, proved too much for Smith to overcome; it was more than double Merkley's overall margin of 59,100 votes.
Constitution Party candidate David Brownlow was seen by some as a
spoiler
Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. Ac ...
, as his number of votes was more than the margin between Merkley and Smith. Brownlow drew votes away from opponents of the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, which Smith supported.
See also
*
List of United States senators from Oregon
*
2008 United States Senate elections
The 2008 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2008, with 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested. Thirty-three seats were up for regular elections; the winners were eligible to serve six-year terms from January 3, 200 ...
*
2008 Oregon legislative election Elections for the 75th Oregon Legislative Assembly took place in 2008. The Republican and Democratic primary elections were on May 20, 2008, and the general election was held on November 4, 2008. Fifteen of the Oregon State Senate's thirty seats we ...
*
2008 United States presidential election in Oregon
The 2008 United States presidential election in Oregon took place on November 4, 2008, and was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for preside ...
References
External links
Elections Divisionfrom the Oregon Secretary of State
U.S. Congress candidates for Oregonat
Project Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...
Oregon U.S. Senate racefrom ''Congress.org''
Oregon U.S. Senate racefrom ''CQ Politics''
Oregon U.S. Senate racefrom ''The Green Papers''
from ''OurCampaigns.com''
Oregon U.S. Senate racefrom ''2008 Race Tracker''
Campaign contributionsfrom
OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...
Smith (R-i) vs Merkley (D)graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
{{2008 United States elections
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...