2020 Oregon State 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

← 2018 November 3, 2020 (2020-11-03) 2022 →
16 of 30 seats in the Oregon State Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Rob Wagner Herman Baertschiger Jr. Party Democratic Republican Leader since May 22, 2020 January 22, 2019 Leader's seat District 19 (Lake Oswego) District 2 (Grants Pass) Last election 18 seats, 62.1% 12 seats, 37.9% Seats before 18 12 Seats won 18 12 Seat change Popular vote 628,347 516,030 Percentage 54.0% 44.4% Swing 8.1% 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

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[2]	Likely D	October 21, 2020

Results summary

Results^[3][4][5]

Affiliation		Candidates	Votes	Vote %	Seats before	Seats up	Seats won	Seats after
	Democratic	16	628,347	54.01%	18	7	7	18
	Republican	12	516,030	44.36%	12	9	9	12
	Libertarian	3	6,694	0.58%	0	0	0	0
	Pacific Green	1	3,107	0.27%	0	0	0	0
Total valid votes		32	1,154,178	99.21%	30	16	16	30

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

1st District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dallas Heard	51,417	68.64%
	Democratic	Kat Stone	23,369	31.20%
	Write-in		124	0.17%
Total votes			74,910	100.00%

2nd District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Art Robinson	48,627	63.90%
	Democratic	Jerry Allen	25,559	33.59%
	Libertarian	Thomas Griffin	1,792	2.35%
	Write-in		124	0.16%
Total votes			76,102	100.00%

5th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dick Anderson	37,807	49.32%
	Democratic	Melissa Cribbins	35,620	46.47%
	Green	Shauleen Higgins	3,107	4.05%
	Write-in		118	0.15%
Total votes			76,652	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

9th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Fred Girod	50,357	66.96%
	Democratic	Jim Hinsvark	22,627	30.09%
	Libertarian	Patrick Marnell	2,127	2.83%
	Write-in		93	0.12%
Total votes			75,204	100.00%

10th District (special)

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Deb Patterson	37,725	48.49%
	Republican	Denyc Boles	37,149	47.75%
	Libertarian	Taylor A Rickey	2,775	3.57%
	Write-in		145	0.19%
Total votes			77,794	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

12th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Boquist	45,391	58.27%
	Democratic	Bernadette Hansen	32,389	41.58%
	Write-in		115	0.15
Total votes			77,895	100.00%

14th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kate Lieber	48,900	68.99%
	Republican	Harmony Mulkey	21,838	30.81%
	Write-in		141	0.20%
Total votes			70,879	100.00%

18th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ginny Burdick	63,082	95.78%
	Write-in		2,776	4.22%
Total votes			65,858	100.00%

21st District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathleen Taylor	71,543	97.59%
	Write-in		1,769	2.41%
Total votes			73,312	100.00%

22nd District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lew Frederick	70,489	98.05%
	Write-in		1,401	1.95%
Total votes			71,890	100.00%

23rd District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Dembrow	61,638	97.03%
	Write-in		1,885	2.97%
Total votes			63,523	100.00%

25th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chris Gorsek	30,206	51.93%
	Republican	Justin Hwang	27,882	47.94%
	Write-in		76	0.13%
Total votes			58,164	100.00%

27th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tim Knopp	49,207	50.73%
	Democratic	Eileen Kiely	47,621	49.10%
	Write-in		161	0.17%
Total votes			96,989	100.00%

28th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dennis Linthicum	54,800	72.73%
	Democratic	Hugh Palcic	20,444	27.13%
	Write-in		102	0.14%
Total votes			75,346	100.00%

29th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Hansell	45,084	75.91%
	Democratic	Mildred O'Callaghan	14,214	23.93%
	Write-in		94	0.16%
Total votes			59,392	100.00%

30th District

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lynn Findley	46,471	66.87%
	Democratic	Carina Miller	22,921	32.98%
	Write-in		105	0.15%
Total votes			69,497	100.00%

See also

• 2020 Oregon House of Representatives election

References

1. "Oregon Secretary of State". results.oregonvotes.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
2. "October Overview: Handicapping the 2020 State Legislature Races". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
3. "Oregon Secretary of State". sos.oregon.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
4. "Statistiques" (PDF). sos.oregon.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
5. "Résultats" (PDF). sos.oregon.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2020.

External links

• Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Oregon", Voting & Elections Toolkits
• "Oregon: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
• "League of Women Voters of Oregon". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Oregon at Ballotpedia