2014 Oregon election results

[0rganism]

just to have a jumping off point for discussion of state and local election results
Whaddaya know, the Oregonian has a really good summary page: http://gov.oregonlive.com/election/

Nationally, 2014 was pretty much a disaster, but locally i think we did okay.
Gov. Kitzhaber? re-elected, despite his fiance's shenanigans (looks like it did wipe 5 points off his victory margin, though)
Sen. Merkely? re-elected, by a wide margin
Rep. DeFazio? re-elected, by a wider margin (beating the Urinator once again)
Rep. Blumenauer? re-elected, by 50+ points unsurprisingly
Rep. Bonamici? re-elected, by a wide margin
Rep. Schrader? re-elected, by a wide margin

Equal rights? affirmed
Marijuana? legalized
Unified primaries? rejected

State legislature? solidly Democratic now, and while the race is still undecided, it looks like Chuck Riley may be sending Bruce Starr home

Not every candidate or ballot measure i voted for won, but overall, looking at the national results, i think it could have been worse -- a lot worse.

Glad to be living in the "sane" part of the USA.

[classof56]

1. Me too!

Thanks for the post. Not so pleased with some of the results over here East of the Cascades, but not surprised. Sigh...

Oregon--She Flies With Her Own Wings. Yes!

[0rganism]

2. hey, Eastern Oregon is important too!

For one thing, it puts some distance between Portland and Idaho

[classof56]

5. Good one!

I'm gonna remember that, and probably use it a time or two as I attempt to engage in reasonable conversation with the locals.

Cheers!

[0rganism]

7. haha, good luck with that

it takes a brave liberal to live in eastern Oregon. Respect!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Proud of my first home state (Minnesota) and my second home state (Oregon)

I'd be all for the Pacific Coast declaring independence.

[0rganism]

8. very nice to see Sen. Franken returning to DC, a ray of sunlight on an otherwise dismal day

i'm not in favor of balkanizing the USA, but i'd be lying if i said the thought hadn't crossed my mind more than once...

[cascadiance]

4. Hoping I have Chuck Riley as my state senator instead of Bruce Starr soon too...

When I was seeing differences of around 30 votes between the two of them in updates last night, i was wondering if just a few people like myself having recently moved to this district will have made the ultimate difference in who gets elected. Still hoping that Riley pulls it out in the end. I wonder if we'll need to do a recount and will need observers to make sure we don't have any Clackamas County-style "manipulation" of ballots happening in the recount too.

And the Top two primaries measure was absolutely SMASHED down. People thought that the undocumented driver's license initiative was doomed from the start, even if it would help ensure we have less problems with drivers on our roads, but the numbers for prop 90 were about equally as lopsided as that initiative was. That's a GOOD sign for the future of people wanting grass roots representation in this state from all parties and that ultimately we won't accept getting manipulated by the 1%ers.

And we still might pull out passing prop 92, even though that still looks behind now. That it's this close with all of the opposition money spent to shut it down is also amazing. People do realize that no other state has yet passed a statewide ballot measure to enforce GMO labeling and that all such laws in other states have been done by the legislature, not by state initiative.

So overall, despite 86 going down, which I think a lot of the students living here really need to have passed, I think Oregon has a lot to be proud of despite the disaster that happened elsewhere in the country. Makes me happy I'm living here, even with it raining a lot the last week or so.

[0rganism]

6. sadly, i can only watch the Riley-Starr race from the sidelines now

as my neighborhood has been re-districted this year over to Yamhill county, for unknown reasons, where the big legislative race was Ken Moore (D) failing to unseat SRep. Weidner (R, McMinnville) by 600-some votes (5%).

Right now it looks like Starr took back the lead from Riley, by 64 votes. Still very close, possibly winnable, definitely going into extra innings on that one. Really hoping Riley wins, he was an excellent legislator a few years back who listened carefully to his constituents.

[cascadiance]

11. Riley is now ahead by THIRTEEN votes in latest count! We may need some volunteers to be observers..

... at a recount, which will be mandatory if it stays this close. I and another couple I know of that moved here this last year now carry over a quarter of the vote difference he has on Starr now! Every vote counts folks!

If we get this seat, we could really have the state legislature do things that we may need to do at the state level, if we can't expect much getting done at the national level the next two years.

[0rganism]

12. Amazing. Cross the old fingers and knock on some wood...

I figured it would be close, didn't think it would be a tie

[cascadiance]

13. Yay! Looks like the Oregonian just called the race for Chuck Riley with a 221 vote lead now...

Not sure if the numbers are in the range where they would still need to do a mandatory recount or not, but it looks good for the Democrats to have a 18-12 majority in the State Senate, a margin they haven't had in a long while, and one which will let them get a lot of good legislation passed now.

http://gov.oregonlive.com/election/#incart_maj-story-1

[0rganism]

14. 0.5% - a squeaker

Full cred to Riley's campaign and the Washco Dems on this one
SSen. Starr was/is a tough opponent, and he didn't skimp on the advertising; about 3 weeks ago, i didn't think Riley had much of a chance, but he pulled it out anyway. 'Tis sweet indeed to see Riley going back to the legislature and Starr headed back to the farm.

[SoapBox]

9. Congratulations Oregon

Oregon born but now a Californian.

Thank gawd we live in the Wild, Wild West.

[F4lconF16]

10. Proud to have been able to vote for my first time

For all of the things we passed and the people we elected. We didn't get everything, but we did pretty damn well. Cheers to Oregon.

[0rganism]

15. hahaha M92 going into extra innings now

Looks like Multnomah county wasn't fully in yet when they called it for Monsanto.