Jeff Merkley

Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician who is the junior United States senator from Oregon. He was first elected to the Senate in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1999 to 2009 as the representative for the 47th district in the Oregon House of Representatives, which covers central Multnomah County on the eastern side of Portland, Oregon; he was the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives during the last two years of his tenure. Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Gordon Smith in 2008 and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins. During his tenure, Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism and was the only U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. He was considered a potential candidate for president in 2020, but chose to run for reelection to the Senate instead.

Infobox

Preceded by

Frank Shields

Succeeded by

Jefferson Smith

Born

Jeffrey Alan Merkley (1956-10-24) October 24, 1956 (age 69)Myrtle Creek, Oregon, U.S.

Political party

Democratic

Spouse

mw- Mary Sorteberg (m. 1992)

Children

Education

Stanford University (BA)Princeton University (MPA)

Website

Senate websiteCampaign website

Party

Democratic

Tables

Oregon House of Representatives 47th district election, 2004 · Electoral history

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley (incumbent)	14,670	64.11%
	Republican	Frank Cleys	8,023	35.06%
		Write-ins	188	0.82%

Oregon House of Representatives 47th district election, 2006 · Electoral history

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	mw- ±%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley (incumbent)	11,106	63.96%	−0.15%
	Republican	Bruce McCain	6,192	35.66%	+0.60%
		Write-ins	65	0.37%	−0.45%

Senate Democratic primary election in Oregon, 2008 · Electoral history

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley	246,482	45.10%
	Democratic	Steve Novick	230,889	42.24%
	Democratic	Candy Neville	38,367	7.02%
	Democratic	Roger Obrist	12,647	2.31%
	Democratic	Pavel Goberman	12,056	2.21%
	Democratic	David Loera	6,127	1.12%

Senate election in Oregon, 2008 · Electoral history

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley	864,392	48.90%	+9.29%
	Republican	Gordon H. Smith (incumbent)	805,159	45.55%	−10.66%
	Constitution	Dave Brownlow	92,565	5.24%	+3.53%
		Write-ins	5,388	0.30%	+0.19%
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

Senate Democratic primary election in Oregon · Electoral history

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley (incumbent)	277,120	93.34%	+48.24%
	Democratic	William Bryk	11,330	3.82%	N/A
	Democratic	Pavel Goberman	8,436	2.84%	+0.63%

Senate election in Oregon · Electoral history

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

1,461,618

Candidate

100.0%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley (incumbent)	814,537	57.50%	+8.60%
	Republican	Monica Wehby	538,847	36.87%	−8.68%
	Libertarian	Mike Montchalin	44,916	3.07%	N/A
	Pacific Green	Christina Jean Lugo	32,434	2.22%	N/A
	Constitution	James Leuenberger	24,212	1.66%	−3.58%
		Write-ins	6,672	0.46%	+0.16%
Total votes			1,461,618	100.0%
	Democratic hold

Senate election in Oregon[147] · Electoral history

Total votes

Party

Total votes

Party

2,321,249

Candidate

100.0%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jeff Merkley (incumbent)	1,321,047	56.91%	+1.18%
	Republican	Jo Rae Perkins	912,814	39.32%	+2.45%
	Libertarian	Gary Dye	42,747	1.84%	−1.23%
	Pacific Green	Ibrahim Taher	42,239	1.82%	−0.40%
	Write-in		2,402	0.11%	−0.34%
Total votes			2,321,249	100.0%
	Democratic hold

· External links

Political offices