2014 United States Senate election in Oregon

The 2014 United States Senate election in Oregon took place on November 4, 2014 to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Oregon, concurrently with the election of the Governor of Oregon, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley successfully ran for reelection to a second term. Despite it being a national midterm Republican wave, this was actually a stronger Senate election for him in terms of margin of victory, winning by almost 20%. Primary elections were held on May 20, 2014. Merkley easily won the Democratic nomination, while the Republicans nominated pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby. Initially, the race was considered potentially competitive, but Wehby's campaign began to collapse after she faced multiple allegations of stalking and harassment from former partners, and was found to have plagiarized portions of her campaign website, leading to her major defeat.

Background

Democrat Jeff Merkley, the Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, had narrowly defeated two-term Republican incumbent Gordon H. Smith with 49% of the vote in 2008.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• William Bryk, attorney from New York and perennial candidate
• Pavel Goberman, fitness instructor and perennial candidate
• Jeff Merkley, incumbent senator

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Mark Callahan, information technology consultant and perennial candidate
• Jason Conger, state representative
• Tim Crawley, attorney
• Jo Rae Perkins, former Chairwoman of the Linn County Republican Party and candidate for Mayor of Albany in 2010
• Monica Wehby, pediatric neurosurgeon

Withdrew

• Sam Carpenter, businessman

Declined

• Bruce Hanna, state representative
• Rick Miller, owner and founder of Avamere
• Gordon H. Smith, former U.S. Senator
• Greg Walden, U.S. Representative and Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Independents

The filing deadline for independent candidates is August 26, 2014. In order to qualify, a candidate must submit 17,893 signatures of registered voters or obtain signatures from at least 1,000 electors at a valid assembly of electors.

Candidates

Declared

• Karl King, massage therapist

General election

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 14, 2014

Predictions

Polling

• ^ Internal poll for Dennis Richardson campaign
• * Internal poll for Monica Wehby campaign

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Clackamas (largest city: Lake Oswego)
• Coos (largest city: Coos Bay)
• Deschutes (largest city: Bend)
• Jackson (largest city: Medford)
• Marion (largest city: Salem)
• Tillamook (largest city: Tillamook)
• Polk (largest city: Salem)
• Yamhill (largest city: McMinnville)

See also

• 2014 United States Senate elections
• 2014 United States elections
• 2014 Oregon gubernatorial election

References

External links

• U.S. Senate elections in Oregon, 2014 at Ballotpedia
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites (Archived)

• Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate incumbent
• Mark Callahan for U.S. Senate
• Jason Conger for U.S. Senate
• Tim Crawley for U.S. Senate
• Pavel Goberman for U.S. Senate
• Karl King for U.S. Senate
• Jo Rae Perkins for U.S. Senate
• Monica Wehby for U.S. Senate