Oregon State Senate | |
|---|---|
| Oregon Legislative Assembly | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | None |
| History | |
New session started | January 21, 2025 |
| Leadership | |
President pro tempore | |
Majority Leader | |
Minority Leader | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 30 |
 Seat display Map display | |
Political groups | Majority
Minority
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Authority | Article IV,Oregon Constitution |
| Salary | $21,612/year + per diem |
| Elections | |
Last election | November 5, 2024 (15 seats) |
Next election | November 3, 2026 (15 seats) |
| Redistricting | Legislative Control |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| State Senate Chamber Oregon State Capitol Salem, Oregon | |
| Website | |
| Oregon State Senate | |
TheOregon State Senate is theupper house of thestatewide legislature for the US state ofOregon. Along with the lower chamberOregon House of Representatives it makes up theOregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Senate, representing 30 districts across the state, each with a population of 141,242.[1] The state Senate meets in the east wing of theOregon State Capitol inSalem.
Oregon, along withArizona,Maine,New Hampshire, andWyoming, is one of the five U.S. states to not have the office of thelieutenant governor, a position which for mostupper houses ofstate legislatures and for theUnited States Congress (with the vice president) is the head of the legislative body and holder of the casting vote in the event of a tie. Instead, a separate position of Senate president is in place, removed from the stateexecutive branch. If the chamber is tied, legislators must devise their own methods of resolving the impasse. In the72nd Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2003, for example, Oregon's state senators entered into a power sharing contract whereby Democratic senators nominated the Senate President while Republican senators chaired key committees.[2]
Like certain other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and theUnited States Senate, the state Senate canconfirm or rejectthe governor's appointments to state departments, commissions, boards, and other state governmental agencies.
The currentSenate president isRob Wagner ofLake Oswego.[3]
Oregon state senators serve four-year terms withoutterm limits. In 2002, theOregon Supreme Court struck down the decade-oldOregon Ballot Measure 3, that had restricted state senators to two terms (eight years) on procedural grounds.[4]
According to theOregon Constitution, two-thirds of senators are required to form aquorum. Republican senators have used this rule to block legislation by absenting themselves.[5] In response to this practice,Oregon Ballot Measure 113 was passed in 2022 to disqualify members with ten unexcused absences from serving in the legislature following their current term. However, a Republican walkout went for six weeks during the82nd Assembly in May and June 2023, the longest ever.[6][7]
Kathryn Clarke was the first woman to serve in Oregon's Senate. Women became eligible to run for the Oregon state legislature in 1914 and later that year Clarke was appointed to fill a vacant seat in Douglas county by her cousin, GovernorOswald West. Following some controversy concerning whether West had the authority to appoint someone to fill the vacancy, Clarke campaigned and was elected by voters in 1915.[8] She took office five years beforeNineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution protected the right of all American women to vote.
In 1982,Mae Yih became the first Chinese-American elected to a state senate in the United States.
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | IR | Ind | Vacant | ||
| End of75th Assembly (2010) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 76th Assembly (2011–2012) | 16 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 77th Assembly (2013–2014) | 16 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 78th Assembly (2015–2016) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 79th Assembly (2017–2019) | 17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| 80th Assembly (2019–2021) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Begin81st Assembly (2021–2023) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| January 15, 2021[a] | 11 | 0 | 1 | |||
| April 2021[b] | 10 | 1 | ||||
| 82nd Assembly (2023–2025) | 17 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 0 |
| 83rd Assembly (2025–2027) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |
| April 19, 2025[c] | 17 | 29 | 1 | |||
| May 9, 2025[d] | 18 | 30 | 0 | |||
| October 5, 2025[e] | 11 | 29 | ||||
| October 23, 2025[f] | 12 | 30 | ||||
| Latest voting share | 60% | 40% | ||||
| Position | Representative | District | Party | Residence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senate President | Rob Wagner | 19 | Democratic | Lake Oswego |
| Senate President Pro Tempore | James I. Manning Jr. | 7 | Democratic | Eugene |
| Majority Leader | Kayse Jama | 24 | Democratic | Portland |
| Senate Deputy Majority Leader | Wlnsvey Campos | 18 | Democratic | Aloha |
| Majority Whip | Sara Gelser Blouin | 8 | Democratic | Corvallis |
| Senate Deputy Majority Whip | Lew Frederick | 22 | Democratic | Portland |
| Assistant Majority Leaders | Janeen Sollman | 15 | Democratic | Hillsboro |
| Khanh Pham | 23 | Democratic | Portland | |
| Minority Leader | Bruce Starr | 12 | Republican | Dundee |
| Deputy Minority Leaders | Cedric Hayden | 6 | Republican | Fall Creek |
| Dick Anderson | 5 | Republican | Lincoln City | |
| David Brock Smith | 1 | Republican | Port Orford | |
| Minority Whip | Suzanne Weber | 16 | Republican | Tillamook |
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
