David Brock Smith wins GOP primary for US Senate in Oregon, will face Democratic incumbent Merkley

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — David Brock Smith won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Oregon on Friday, in the last significant race to be called following the state’s May 19 primary election.

Brock Smith, a state senator, emerged from a field of seven candidates to challenge the incumbent, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, in November.

Merkley, who was first elected in 2008, is viewed as having a generally safe seat since Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican U.S. senator since 2002.

Friday’s result comes after other high-profile contests were called on election night, including a gas tax referendum and the Republican primary for governor that set up a November rematch for the state’s top job.

Voters overwhelmingly rejected the ballot measure that asked them whether to raise the state gas tax by 6 cents to 46 cents a gallon. The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed the contested gas tax increase and a series of fees last year to help fix roads and plug a gap in the state’s transportation budget. Republicans then launched a referendum campaign to refer it to the ballot and give voters the final say.

Republicans hailed the rejection of the gas tax increase after it was trounced by voters. Democrats have remained mostly silent and didn’t organize efforts to campaign for it as the Iran war caused prices at the pump to skyrocket. Some party members said in the run-up to the primary that they expected voters to defeat it.

In the governor’s race, Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan advanced from a field of 14 candidates to win her primary. She beat opponents who included a fellow GOP legislator who helped lead the gas tax referendum campaign and a former NBA player.

Her victory set up a rematch with Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, who won her party’s primary as she seeks reelection. Drazan lost to Kotek in 2022 by over 3 percentage points in a three-way race that included an independent candidate.

Elected that year to her first term as governor after years in the Legislature, including as Oregon’s longest-serving House speaker, Kotek has sparred with the Trump administration, which sought unsuccessfully to deploy the National Guard to Portland last fall for the stated purpose of protecting federal property and personnel following protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.

Kotek also pledged to tackle homelessness, mental health and education. Despite approving funding and programs aimed at addressing those issues, the state has continued to see rising homelessness and flagging student test scores that have failed to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Drazan will likely try to capitalize on those issues while facing an uphill battle: Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor in over 40 years.

Meanwhile, in Oregon’s lone competitive U.S. House district, Democratic incumbent Rep. Janelle Bynum won her primary. Patti Adair, a county commissioner, won the GOP primary there and will work to win back the seat for Republicans. The GOP flipped it in 2022 for the first time in decades before Bynum reclaimed it for Democrats.