Oregon 2022 Election Results

Oregon held its general election on November 8, 2022, deciding 75 legislative seats and 2 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republican gains ended Democrats' three-fifths supermajorities in both chambers, which had let them pass bills on party-line votes, though Democrats kept the governorship and control of the legislature.
• Tina Kotek (D), the former House speaker, beat Christine Drazan (R), the former House Republican leader, by about 3 points after a scare for Democrats in a year when conditions for a Republican upset were "some of the most favorable in years." Betsy Johnson (I), a former Democratic lawmaker running unaffiliated, took about 9%. Kotek and Massachusetts' Maura Healey became the first two openly lesbian governors in U.S. history.
• Republicans fell short of a Senate tie despite help from a PAC founded by former U.S. Rep. Greg Walden and Phil Knight's $2 million. They flipped two Democratic-held seats, with Suzanne Weber (R) winning Senate District 16 on the north coast and Kim Thatcher (R) winning Senate District 11 in Salem, but state Rep. Mark Meek (D) unseated incumbent Sen. Bill Kennemer (R) in Senate District 20 by about 500 votes, leaving Republicans a net gain of one seat.
• In the only other statewide race, the nonpartisan labor commissioner post, civil rights attorney Christina Stephenson defeated Cheri Helt, a former Republican state representative, by about 22 points.
• In the House, Republicans netted two seats, cutting the Democratic majority to 35-25. Their gains included Democratic-held seats in Woodburn, where Tracy Cramer (R) won House District 22; Salem-Keizer, where Kevin Mannix (R) won House District 21; and Hood River, where Jeff Helfrich (R) won House District 52. Democrats answered in central Oregon, where Emerson Levy (D) flipped a long-Republican district running from Bend to Redmond, House District 53, by about 510 votes, and in Salem, where Tom Andersen (D) took the Republican-held House District 19. Kennemer was the only incumbent to lose in November, and Annessa Hartman (D) held the open House District 40 for Democrats by about 180 votes.
• Voters approved all 4 statewide measures, two of them by barely a point.
  • Measure 113, which bars legislators with 10 or more unexcused absences from re-election, passed by about 37 points, curbing the walkouts Republicans used to deny quorum in 2019 and 2020.
  • Measure 111 made Oregon the first state with a constitutional obligation to provide access to affordable health care; it passed by about 1 point.
  • Measure 114, which would create a permit-to-purchase system and ban magazines over 10 rounds, also passed by about 1 point, though court challenges mean it has never taken effect.
  • Measure 112, removing the constitution's slavery and involuntary servitude exception for criminal punishment, passed by about 11 points.

Legislature

• House (60 seats): 37 D, 23 R before the election, 35 D, 25 R after; control stayed with Democrats.
• Senate (30 seats): 18 D, 12 R before the election, 17 D, 13 R after; control stayed with Democrats.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures