Democratic Party of Oregon

Democratic Party of Oregon
Party Chairman	Meredith Wood-Smith
Senate Leader	Kate Brown
House Leader	Jeff Merkley
Founded	1859
Headquarters	232 NE 9th Ave Portland, OR, USA 97232-2915
Political ideology	American Liberalism Progressivism Center-left
International affiliation	Alliance of Democrats1
Colour(s)	Blue
Website	[1]
1As affiliate of national Democratic party.

The Democratic Party of Oregon is the official Oregon affiliate of the US-American Democratic Party and recognized by the state of Oregon as a major political party, along with the Oregon Republican Party. The state Central Committee, made up of two delegates elected from each of Oregon's 36 counties and one additional delegate for every 15,000 registered Democrats, is the main authoritative body of the party.^[1]

As prescribed by Oregon state statutes governing major political parties, the party comprises all registered voters designating their party affiliation as Democrat. In each biennial primary election conducted in even-numbered years, such affiliated voters elect members from each precinct to their respective county's central committee, which in turn elects delegates to a state convention, charged with organizing the party at the state level, and arranging for the day-to-day conduct of the party. These county central committees also send delegates to the standing committees of their respective congressional districts, which support their constituent county central committees and coordinate district-wide party activities and campaigns.

• Chair: Meredith Wood Smith
• 1st Vice-Chair: Frank Dixon
• 2nd Vice-Chair: Jill Thorn
• Treasurer: Mike Radway
• Secretary: Becky Gladstone

The state party officially recognizes ten party caucuses formed to address specific political issues in their constituent communities:

• Black Caucus
• Faith Caucus
• GLBT Caucus
• Gun Owners' Caucus
• Latino Caucus
• Motorcycle Caucus
• Rural Caucus
• Senior Caucus
• Veterans' Caucus
• College Democrats' Caucus

A variety of organizations of Oregon Democrats have been organized to promote particular issues, causes, or factions within the party, or conversely, to promote Democratic Party initiatives and candidates within particular potential constituency groups. These include neighborhood or local "Democratic Clubs" and Oregon Democrats for Life among others. They have no official standing within the party.

Oregon national delegations to both the United States Senate and House of Representatives are divided between Republicans and Democrats. In the 110th Congress, the incumbent Democratic Senator is Ron Wyden, and the four Democrats of the five-member Congressional delegation are David Wu, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, and Darlene Hooley. In the 2008 general elections for the 111th Congress, incumbent Republican Senator Gordon Smith lost his bid for re-election to Oregon House speaker and Democrat Jeff Merkley, and retiring Representative Hooley's elected successor is Democratic state senator Kurt Schrader.

Oregon's governor is Democrat Ted Kulongoski, re-elected in 2006 for his second consecutive term. Each of the other statewide partisan offices are also occupied by Democrats: Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, State Treasurer Randall Edwards, and Attorney General Hardy Myers. They did not seek re-election in the 2008 general elections. Their respective elected successors are also all Democrats: Bradbury will be succeeded by state senator and former majority leader Kate Brown, Edwards by state senator Ben Westlund, and Myers by John Kroger.

Main article: Oregon's statewide elections, 2006

Going into the 2006 elections, Democrats occupied all four of the state's partisan executive offices and held a majority in the state Senate, but were in the minority in the state House of Representatives. Of the statewide office-holders, only Governor Ted Kulongoski was up for re-election. Not only was he successful in that bid, but Democrats were elected to a slim majority in the House. All four of Oregon's Democratic US House representatives were re-elected.

Main article: Oregon state elections, 2008

In the 2008 elections, Democrats gained a three-fifths majority in the state House and maintained the same majority in the Senate despite losing a seat to the Republicans. This majority in both chambers of the Oregon Legislative Assembly is needed to pass bills that raise revenue, as required by Article IV §25 of the state constitution. Democrats maintained control of all state partisan executive offices. They held all four of Oregon's five federal congressional seats, including a retiring Democrat's seat, and unseated Oregon's Republican Senator, the only one from the West Coast and the only Republican occupying an office representing the whole of Oregon.

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2008)

The first state party convention was held in Salem on April 20, 1859, and nominated Lansing Stout for Congress over incumbent Democrat Lafayette Grover in a session that was bitterly divided over the issue of slavery.^[2]

• Official website