Jeff Merkley Defeats Gordon Smith in Oregon Senate Race

Portland, Oregon -- The twelve-year reign of Gordon Smith has come to an end. In a close and sometimes bitter battle for the Oregon Senate seat, Democrat Jeff Merkley has prevailed after two days of vigilant vote counting, ensuring a stronger Democratic stronghold in the US Senate.

After the Oregonian projected the victory late Wednesday night Merkley said, "this is the beginning of a transformational change for America." While all the votes have still yet to be tallied, Merkley, the challenger, is trending to gather 48.4% of the vote to Smith's 46%. As of Thursday morning, 84% of the votes had been counted with 773,358 for Merkley and 732,771 for Smith.

The uncounted votes are coming from traditionally Democratic-controlled areas of Multnomah county, including the Portland metro area. The Oregonian reported that early Thursday morning Gordon Smith had called Jeff Merkely to concede his Senate seat. Merkley also released a statement thanking Gordon Smith for his twelve years of service to Oregon and the US Senate.

This shifting move in the US Senate is creating a stronger mandate for the Democratic party, but the initial hope of a filibuster-proof 60 seats seems to be fading by the hour. With the expected defeat of Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota (a recount is in progress, although incumbent Norm Coleman has declared victory), the Democrats may have to settle with a plus-six or plus-seven majority.

With Senate battles still ongoing in Georgia and Alaska, and the ambivalent political orientation of Senator Joe Lieberman, the Democrats do still have a chance at reaching the magic number of 60. It was reported today that Senator Lieberman would be meeting with Senate majority leader Reid; a discussion surely to revolve around his enthusiastic support of Senator McCain in the Presidential election, and his subsequent political motivations in the next Congress.

The defeat of Smith, a firmly entrenched Washington Senator is symptomatic of the tide of enthusiasm and support swinging to the Democratic party. Merkley associated Smith with President Bush during the campaign saying that the incumbent had voted with the administration over 90% of the time; an attack similar to those used by Barack Obama in the Presidential campaign.

Merkley's victory caps the Democratic sweep in Oregon, and parallels the control in the state legislature revealing a mandate for the Democratic party.