Oregon Legislative Elections, 2008
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Elections for the
75th Oregon Legislative Assembly The 75th Oregon Legislative Assembly convened beginning on , for its biennial regular session. All of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 30 seats in the State Senate were up for election in 2008; the general election ...
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 The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the State legislature (United States), statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ther ...
's thirty seats were up for election, as were all 60 seats of the
Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...
. In the general election, there were 39 races with both Democratic and Republican candidates; 24 were in districts previously represented by a Republican, 15 in districts previously represented by Democrats. Sixteen Democrats ran without a Republican opponent, and five Republicans ran without a Democratic opponent. Eighteen incumbent House members and six incumbent Senators earned enough write-in votes in the opposing party's primary to earn a dual endorsement.


Oregon Senate

Every two years, half of the state senate seats come up for election. In 2008 there was also an election for District 17, resulting from Senator
Brad Avakian Brad Peter Avakian (born February 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Oregon House, the Oregon Senate, and as the state's nonpartisan elected Labor Commissioner. He was appointed Labor Commissioner by Governor Te ...
's appointment to Oregon Labor Commissioner. Thus, 16 seats were up for election. Nine of the 16 Senate seats up for election were previously held by Democrats. Four of these races had both Democratic and Republican candidates in the general election. The other seven seats were previously held by Republicans, and four of them were contested by both major parties. Democrats lost one seat (District 27 in the Bend area) to the Republican Party, and went into 2009 with a majority of 18 seats to the Republicans' 12. Except where footnoted, candidates were unopposed in their party's primary.


House of Representatives

Every two years, all of the state house seats come up for election. Democrats gained five seats from the previous session: two in open seats and three in defeating incumbent Republicans. Except where footnoted, candidates were unopposed in their party's primary.


Citations and primary election notes

{{2008 United States elections
Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...