Oregon: U.s. Senate

Democrat Jeff Merkley will be Oregon’s newest Senator in Washington, D.C., according to The Oregonian, which called the race Wednesday night.

The paper called the race shortly after Merkley retook the lead in the vote count, after U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) had held a lead of several thousand votes throughout much of the day.

PORTLAND --  Oregon’s Senate race is too close to call and will not be decided before Wednesday morning.

Currently, U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) and U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) each have 47 percent of the vote. Constitution Party candidate Dave Brownlow has six percent of the vote. Elections officials will stop counting ballots at midnight and resume at 7 a.m.

Despite polls trending against their candidate, the mood at U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s (R-Pendleton) campaign headquarters on Tuesday morning remains upbeat as the campaign heads toward its final hours.

“We are feeling great,” Smith spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said. “We’re pushing hard to get out the vote!”

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) leads Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) among Oregon voters 47 percent to 39 percent, a new poll conducted by Rasmussen finds.

That is a stark turnaround from what the poll found in July, when Rasmussen reported that Merkley had a slight lead over Smith. While those numbers prompted the Merkley campaign to call the poll historic, the revelation of these numbers brought on a little more of a subdued mood from the Smith campaign.