Can Jeff Merkley Pull Off US Senate Win? (UPDATE - HE WON!)

UPDATE @ 6pm: The Oregonian calls Oregon’s Senate race for Democrat Jeff Merkley removing the 12-year Republican Gordon Smith!!

Oregon Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley (D) is still in a neck and neck battle with sitting US Senator Gordon Smith (R). The latest results show that he is ONLY 800 votes behind. Most of the ballots that still need to be counted are in Lane and Multnomah Counties which are both heavily democratic.

Speaker Merkley has been a champion for GLBT equality here in Oregon and was instrumental in passing both Oregon’s Domestic Partnership and Anti-Discrimination laws in 2007.

While Sen. Smith has teamed up with Sen. Ted Kennedy on attempts to get hate crime legislation passed at the federal level, he is a staunch supporter of the “Federal Marriage Amendment” and actively campaigned for Measure 36 in 2004 which scarred the Oregon State Constitution with discrimination by banning marriage equality.

Let’s hope for a victory for Speaker Merkley!