Jeff Merkley beat Republican state Sen. David Brock Smith, winning a fourth term and helping Democrats take control of the Senate.
Jeff Merkley is Oregon’s junior senator. He has held the seat since 2009, serving alongside Sen. Ron Wyden, and is known for his work on housing costs, health care and voting rights.
Merkley grew up in Oregon, the son of a millwright. He studied at Stanford and Princeton, worked at the Congressional Budget Office, and then came home to run Portland Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for low-income families. That housing work shaped the rest of his career.
He served ten years in the Oregon House of Representatives and rose to speaker of the House in 2007. A year later he beat a sitting Republican senator to win his U.S. Senate seat, and he has held it since.
In this year’s race, the Associated Press called it for Merkley at 8 p.m. Pacific time on election night. He beat David Brock Smith, a Republican state senator from Port Orford, with about 57 percent of the vote. Two minor-party candidates also ran.
His win matters because every hold counts: Democrats won control of the Senate on election night, and Oregon was never in doubt.
What to watch: Merkley’s push on housing, health care costs and protecting democratic institutions in the new Congress.
Fast facts
- Age: 70
- Party: Democratic
- Office: U.S. Senator
- State: Oregon
- Previous job: Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
- Called by AP: 8 p.m. PT, Nov. 3, 2026
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
