America turned more red, Oregon turned more blue

by NW Spotlight

Election 2014 – As of 6:00 AM Thursday 11/6/2014

Republicans have won control of the U.S. Senate, and so will now control both chambers of Congress.

As of 6:00 AM Thursday, Real Clear Politics is reporting that Republicans have won 52 U.S. Senate seats, and they may win two more – in Louisiana and Alaska. It looks like Republicans also came close in a U.S. Senate race that wasn’t even supposed to be competitive in Virginia. Real Clear Politics is also reporting that Republicans have picked up 13 more seats in the U.S. Congress and there will be 3 more Republicans governors.

That’s the good news on the national level.

It’s a different story here on the Left Coast in Oregon.

Republicans lost a close gubernatorial race to John Kitzhaber, and the U.S. Senate race to Jeff Merkley. No congressional seats changed hands (4 of Oregon’s 5 congressional seats are still held by Democrats, and one is held by Republican Greg Walden).

In what’s supposed to be a GOP favorable non presidential election year, Republicans lost a state house seat (HD20-Salem) and didn’t take any seats away from the Democrats. That means this coming session Democrats will hold a 35-to-25 seat advantage in the Oregon House – 1 seat shy of a super-majority. In 2010, the last non presidential election year, Republicans were able to get to a 30/30 split.

It’s possibly worse on the state senate side. Republicans lost SD8 (Corvallis/Albany), didn’t pick up any new seats, and are in a very close race in SD15 (Hillsboro). If Republican incumbent Sen. Bruce Starr were to lose in SD15, Democrats would have a super-majority in the Oregon Senate. As of 07:50 PM on Wednesday, Sen. Starr has a 64 vote lead over Chuck Riley (D): 15,553 votes to 15,489 votes.

Ballot Measures

Measure 86 (State debt to pay for college) – FAILED

Measure 87 (Judges can work for National Guard and universities) – PASSED

Measure 88 (Driver cards) – FAILED

Measure 89 (State ERA) – PASSED

Measure 90 (“Top Two” primary) – FAILED

Measure 91 (Legalize marijuana) – PASSED

Measure 92 (GMO) – FAILED

Source for Oregon races and measures (unless noted otherwise): Oregonian