2020 Oregon Senate election

The 2020 Oregon State Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, with the primary election being held on May 19, 2020. Voters in 16 of the 30 Oregon State Senate districts elected their state senators. The elections coincided with the elections for other offices, including for U.S. President.

2020 Oregon State Senate election

← 2018November 3, 2020 (2020-11-03)2022 →

16 of 30 seats in the Oregon State Senate
16 seats needed for a majority
 Majority partyMinority party
 
LeaderRob WagnerHerman Baertschiger Jr.
PartyDemocraticRepublican
Leader sinceMay 22, 2020January 22, 2019
Leader's seatDistrict 19 (Lake Oswego)District 2 (Grants Pass)
Last election18 seats, 62.1%12 seats, 37.9%
Seats before1812
Seats won1812
Seat changeSteadySteady
Popular vote628,347516,030
Percentage54.0%44.4%
SwingDecrease 8.1%Increase 6.5%

Results of the elections:
     Democratic gain      Republican gain
     Democratic hold      Republican hold
     No election

President of the Senate before election

Peter Courtney
Democratic

Elected President of the Senate

Peter Courtney
Democratic

The Democratic Party kept their majority.[1] The Oregon State Senate does not have term limits.

Background

Democrats had held the Oregon Senate since 2002 and the chamber was not considered competitive in 2020.

Electoral system

Members of the Oregon State Senate are elected from single-member districts by first-past-the-post voting to four-year terms with staggered elections. Contested nominations of the Democratic and Republican parties for each district were determined by an open primary election. Minor-party and independent candidates were nominated by petition, and write-in candidates had to file a request with the Secretary of State's office for votes for them to be counted.

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report[2]Likely DOctober 21, 2020

Results summary

Results[3][4][5]
AffiliationCandidatesVotesVote %Seats beforeSeats upSeats wonSeats after
Democratic16628,34754.01%187718
Republican12516,03044.36%129912
Libertarian36,6940.58%0000
Pacific Green13,1070.27%0000
Total valid votes321,154,17899.21%30161630

Close races

Districts where the margin of victory was under 10%:

  1. District 10 (special), 0.74% (gain)
  2. District 27, 1.63%
  3. District 5, 2.85% (gain)
  4. District 25, 3.99%

Results by district

General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanDallas Heard 51,417 68.64%
DemocraticKat Stone23,36931.20%
Write-in1240.17%
Total votes74,910 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanArt Robinson 48,627 63.90%
DemocraticJerry Allen25,55933.59%
LibertarianThomas Griffin1,7922.35%
Write-in1240.16%
Total votes76,102 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanDick Anderson 37,807 49.32%
DemocraticMelissa Cribbins35,62046.47%
GreenShauleen Higgins3,1074.05%
Write-in1180.15%
Total votes76,652 100.00%
Republican gain from Democratic
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanFred Girod 50,357 66.96%
DemocraticJim Hinsvark22,62730.09%
LibertarianPatrick Marnell2,1272.83%
Write-in930.12%
Total votes75,204 100.00%

10th District (special)

General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticDeb Patterson 37,725 48.49%
RepublicanDenyc Boles37,14947.75%
LibertarianTaylor A Rickey2,7753.57%
Write-in1450.19%
Total votes77,794 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanBrian Boquist 45,391 58.27%
DemocraticBernadette Hansen32,38941.58%
Write-in1150.15
Total votes77,895 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticKate Lieber 48,900 68.99%
RepublicanHarmony Mulkey21,83830.81%
Write-in1410.20%
Total votes70,879 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticGinny Burdick 63,082 95.78%
Write-in2,7764.22%
Total votes65,858 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticKathleen Taylor 71,543 97.59%
Write-in1,7692.41%
Total votes73,312 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticLew Frederick 70,489 98.05%
Write-in1,4011.95%
Total votes71,890 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticMichael Dembrow 61,638 97.03%
Write-in1,8852.97%
Total votes63,523 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
DemocraticChris Gorsek 30,206 51.93%
RepublicanJustin Hwang27,88247.94%
Write-in760.13%
Total votes58,164 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanTim Knopp 49,207 50.73%
DemocraticEileen Kiely47,62149.10%
Write-in1610.17%
Total votes96,989 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanDennis Linthicum 54,800 72.73%
DemocraticHugh Palcic20,44427.13%
Write-in1020.14%
Total votes75,346 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanBill Hansell 45,084 75.91%
DemocraticMildred O'Callaghan14,21423.93%
Write-in940.16%
Total votes59,392 100.00%
General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%
RepublicanLynn Findley 46,471 66.87%
DemocraticCarina Miller22,92132.98%
Write-in1050.15%
Total votes69,497 100.00%

See also

References