Jeff Merkley

Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009.

Upon his swearing in, Oregon was represented in the Senate by two Democrats (Merkley and Ron Wyden) for the first time since Maurine Brown Neuberger served alongside Morse from 1960 to 1967.

Merkley has a progressive record as a senator.

He became the first Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he would vote against the confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing Bernanke's failure to "recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession".

As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Merkley became a leading force in the effort to pass the Wall Street reform bill.

Merkley thus became the first person to unseat an incumbent Oregon senator since Bob Packwood defeated Wayne Morse in 1968.

He graduated from David Douglas High School, received a bachelor of arts degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1979, and earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1982.

After completing his master's degree, Merkley was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, working at the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the security of American military technology.

After his fellowship, he worked in the Congressional Budget Office, where he analyzed nuclear weapons policies and programs.

In 1991 Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive director of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.

Merkley started the Walk for Humanity, initiated the Journey for Mankind, launched development of the Habitat Home Building Center, and initiated a pilot project for "YouthBuild" in which gang-affected youth built homes in their own neighborhoods.

He also served as Director of Housing Development at Human Solutions, where he worked to make available affordable housing complexes and launched Oregon's first Individual Development Account (IDA) program, which helps low-income families save money to buy homes, attend college, or start businesses.

Merkley was President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon for seven years and continues to serve on the board of trustees.

In 1998 Merkley was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon House of Representatives from the 16th district in east Portland (renumbered as the 47th district after the 2002 redistricting).

He succeeded Frank Shields, who moved from the House to the Oregon State Senate due to term limits.

In its endorsement, The Oregonian predicted that Merkley was the most likely of several Democrats to "accomplish something positive in the Legislature."

A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1999 to 2009 as the representative for the 47th district in the Oregon House of Representatives, which covers central Multnomah County on the eastern side of Portland; he was the speaker of the House during the last two years of his tenure.

Following the 2003 session, he was elected Democratic leader, and after the House Democrats gained a majority in the 2006 Oregon statewide elections, they unanimously elected him Speaker of the House in the 74th Oregon Legislative Assembly.

During Merkley's tenure as Speaker, the Oregon House passed numerous major pieces of legislation: It created a state "rainy day fund" (a savings account to protect public schools against the effects of any future fluctuating economy); increased Oregon public school funding by 14 percent ($1 billion) and state university funding by 18 percent ($1.4 billion); banned junk food in schools; expanded the Oregon commercial indoor smoking ban; revised the Oregon Bottle Bill; outlawed discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and in the workplace; and gave same-sex couples rights, immunities, and benefits.

On August 1, 2007, Merkley announced he would run for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 election.

On August 13, he was endorsed by Governor Ted Kulongoski and former governor Barbara Roberts.

In December 2007 he was endorsed by the Oregon AFL–CIO, the state's largest labor federation.

The union federation's leaders cited Merkley's 97% record of voting in the interests of working families and his electability in a general election against the incumbent, Gordon Smith.

Merkley was the first federal candidate to be cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon.

In 2008, Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Gordon Smith and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins.

Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Smith in 2008, narrowly defeating activist Steve Novick and four others in the Democratic primary.

He was initially thought to have only a moderate chance of unseating Smith, but a July 2008 Rasmussen poll showed him in the lead, albeit within the margin of error.

By August, after strongly negative campaigning on both sides, Rasmussen reported that Merkley's support had deteriorated, with Smith taking a strong lead in the polls.

Merkley's favorable rating was at 42%, while his unfavorable rating had risen to 45%.

Polls taken shortly before the election indicated that Merkley's standing had once again improved, with Merkley's 12-point deficit turning into a slight lead.

On election night the race was too close to call, but media outlets including The Oregonian called it for Merkley on the morning of November 6, and Smith conceded later that morning.

Ultimately, Merkley defeated Smith by three percentage points, 49% to 46%.

While he carried only eight counties, one of them was his home county of Multnomah County, which he won by 142,000 votes—a deficit that proved too much for Smith to overcome.

Merkley formally resigned his seat in the Oregon House in a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury on January 2, 2009.

He was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2009.

During his tenure, Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism and was the only U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

He was considered a potential candidate for president in 2020, but chose to run for reelection to the Senate instead.

Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou (née Collins) and Darrell Philip Merkley.

His paternal grandmother was born in Calliope, Queensland, Australia.

He attended first grade in Roseburg, Oregon, before moving to Portland with his family.