Sen. Jeff Merkley cruised to re-election Tuesday, besting Republican challenger Monica Wehby in one of the few easy contests for Democrats struggling to keep control of the Senate.
Merkley, Oregon’s junior senator, was declared the winner by the Associated Press as soon as the polls closed.
The Senate race in the solidly blue state was never in doubt, with Merkley holding a commanding lead over Wehby in every poll leading up to Election Day.
Initially, Republicans had hoped that dissatisfaction with President Obama’s job performance and the botched rollout of the state’s healthcare website would make the contest competitive.
However, conservatives pumped very little money into Wehby’s campaign coffers, and Merkley effectively painted the candidate as too extreme for the Oregon electorate.
“This campaign is really between Oregon values on the one hand and Koch brother values on the other hand,” Merkley said of Wehby during the contest’s lone debate.
Like many Democrats, Merkley invoked the name of the billionaire Koch brothers whenever possible and slammed Wehby repeatedly for her position against raising the federal minimum wage.
Wehby’s campaign also was marred by a plagiarism controversy when she was accused of copying policy proposals from Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and conservative policy shop Crossroads GPS.
The race was called not long after the polls closed in Oregon.
In 2008, Merkley ousted GOP incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith, riding Obama’s coattails to a 3-point victory.
Merkley is one of the few Senate Democrats whose margin of victory was bigger in 2014 than 2008.
As expected, Merkley performed particularly well in Multnomah County, the voter-rich Portland area.
Before becoming a senator, Merkley was a five-term member of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, including a stint as speaker of the state’s House of Representatives.
