Sen. Jeff Merkley won a fourth term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Republican state Sen. David Brock Smith, the Associated Press reported.

The AP declared Merkley the winner at 8 p.m. Pacific time. The call came as Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate nationally, flipping six seats in what the AP described as "a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party."

Initial statewide results showed Merkley at 57.06% with 731,076 votes and Brock Smith at 40.24% with 515,659 votes, according to the Banks Post. Chris Henry, the Progressive and Pacific Green Party nominee, drew 1.76% with 22,494 votes. Libertarian Gary Lyndon Dye received 0.87% with 11,167 votes. Those totals include results from all 36 counties.

Oregon has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 2002. 270toWin had rated Merkley as "heavily favored" heading into the election.

Portland backdrop

Merkley, who had considered retirement after nearly 30 years in public office, said the decision to run again came down to three concerns: economic pressures on families, corruption in the federal government and what he described as the erosion of the Constitution under President Donald Trump, according to the Statesman Journal.

"The thing that really tipped me over to saying yes, hell yes, I'm going to run again was Trump shredding our Constitution," Merkley said, according to the Statesman Journal.

In September, Merkley brought that message to Portland. He told a crowd of several hundred people at the East Portland Community Center that the country faced a crisis, The Oregonian reported. Fears about the future of U.S. democracy and threats to free speech dominated the town hall, according to The Oregonian.

Merkley was first elected to the Senate in 2008 after serving in the Oregon House of Representatives, including two years as House speaker, according to the Statesman Journal. If Democrats take control of the Senate, OPB reported Merkley would be well-positioned to chair the Senate Budget Committee.

The challenger

Brock Smith, a state senator from Port Orford, is a third-generation southwest Oregonian and former restaurant owner. He said he has disagreements with Trump but argued voters should evaluate his candidacy independently of their feelings about the president, according to the Statesman Journal.

"Oregon is in trouble," Brock Smith said. "I felt that this was the moment that was necessary to try to bring Oregonians another option."

The fundraising gap was steep. As of June 30, Merkley had raised about $7.9 million with roughly $6.8 million cash on hand, according to campaign finance data reported by the Statesman Journal. Brock Smith had raised about $121,000 with roughly $29,000 on hand.

Counting continues

Oregon is a vote-by-mail state. The Oregon Secretary of State's results page showed unofficial statewide voter turnout of 41.84% as of 9 p.m. on Nov. 3, with 1,300,876 ballots counted out of 3,109,081 active registered voters.

Election night tallies are not final. Vote counts will continue to be updated as more ballots are processed. Ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days will still be counted. Multnomah County's elections page lists Nov. 30 as the date county results will be certified. The secretary of state is scheduled to certify statewide results Dec. 10.