LOC News
Preliminary Election Results: 92 Local Measures and Changes at Legislature
County election offices across the state are still counting ballots as of Friday November 8 and will officially finalize counts later this month. However, we wanted to provide a snapshot of local elections and what to expect from the state Legislature in 2025. More than 90 local measures were in this election cycle, with a full slate of house elections and half of the senate seats. Based on the returns as of on Friday morning, just eight new state legislators will be in the House and Senate chambers in 2025. Three lawmakers who once served in the state Legislature will be returning to the Capitol. With Senator Steiner's successful secretary of state campaign, her successor will be an appointment coming from Multnomah and Washington County commissioners, so one additional legislator new to the Capitol could be in Salem in 2025.
Voter Turnout by County
Congratulations to Wallowa County, which has seen an 80% voter turnout, the highest among all counties. By contrast, Marion County ranks the lowest at 47% voter turnout. This election cycle continues the trend of most rural counties outperforming the urban counties by a margin of 10 or more percent and typically at or above 70%.
Legislature Sees Minor Changes
While the turnover of state legislators is not as large as in previous cycles, the Oregon Senate will see the most significant change. A full one-third of the Senate will have new members over the next two election cycles. Due to Measure 113, 10 Republican Senators who had 10 or more unexcused absences during the 2023 session cannot run for reelection in 2024 and 2026. For this election, Republicans had six open Senate races between retirements and those impacted by M113. The net result of the campaigns will see Senate Democrats, having gained one additional seat, holding a super-majority with 18 of 30 seats. The remaining four Republican Senate seats impacted by M113 will be open in 2026.
Voting has not concluded for the four races in the House. House Districts 22, 32, 48, and 52 remained in tight vote counts as of November 8. At least seven new members will join their reelected colleagues in 2025. We anticipate that the current 35-25 split with Democrats in the majority will not change.
Local Measures
This election cycle included 92 local government measures between counties, cities, and special districts. Revenue-raising measures (levies, bonds, taxes) combined for 40 measures, charter amendments accounted for 25, and the balance, or 27 local measures, focused on advisory questions. Out of all revenue measures (levies, bonds, taxes), just 16 of the 40 passed. From this group of measures, only two of eight school bonds passed, eight of 15 tax measures passed, as well as just six of 16 local bond measures. The largest block of successful local measures was related to local advisory questions, with 24 of 30 measures passing.
Statewide Measures of Interest
M 115 – Authorizing impeachment of statewide elected officials passed with nearly 2/3 of the voters in support.
M 116 – Establishing an independent commission to determine legislative salaries failed with a 53/46 margin.
M 117 - Ranked choice voting, losing by a margin of nearly 60/40.
M 118 – Universal Income that would have provided annual income failed by a 78/21 margin.
For more details of local and state elections, stay tuned to your respective county election office and the Oregon Secretary of State’s website, located here.
Contact: Jim McCauley, Legislative Director – jmccauley@orcities.org
Last Updated 11/8/24