Oregon Public Broadcasting

Thursday morning, Democratic house Speaker Jeff Merkley has more votes than Republican Senator Gordon Smith. The Oregonian newspaper has called the race for Merkley. Ethan Lindsey reports.

Merkley surged ahead by several thousand votes, as elections officers in Oregon’s largest county continue to count.

Multnomah County, home to Portland, is voting 2-to-1 in favor of the Democratic lawmaker. And tens-of-thousands of ballots in the county remain to be tabulated.

At his home in Portland, Merkley said he’s been watching the returns come in.

Jeff Merkley: “We’ve had a number of family members or friends who’ve been coming by and its felt a lot like Thanksgiving. People cooking in the kitchen and lots of conversations about how things will change.”

Smith’s campaign released a statement pointing out that Smith had swung to the lead in earlier voting, and that the “campaign remains cautiously optimistic and eagerly awaits the counting of ballots.”

The contest is being watched nationally because if Merkley were to hold on, he would be the 57th Democratic vote in the 100-seat Senate.