Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Nov. 3, flipping six seats in what the Associated Press called a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley's reelection was one piece of that shift. The AP declared Merkley the winner at 11 p.m.

Eastern time, giving the Democrat a fourth term after he defeated Republican state Sen. David Brock Smith.

The Senate takeover matters across the Pacific Northwest. OPB reported in October that if Democrats regained the chamber, Merkley would be well-positioned to become chair of the Senate Budget Committee. In that role he said he would target wasteful defense spending and reverse Republican-backed tax breaks he sees as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy.

Closer to home, the Seattle Times reported Washington voters on the same ballot weighed in on Seattle Proposition 1, a sales tax to fund public transit, along with races for the Metropolitan King County Council and Seattle City Council District 5.

Oregon results

Initial statewide results showed Merkley at 57.06% with 731,076 votes and Brock Smith at 40.24% with 515,659 votes, according to the Banks Post.

Chris Henry, the Progressive and Pacific Green Party nominee, drew 1.76% with 22,494 votes. Libertarian Gary Lyndon Dye received 0.87% with 11,167 votes. Those totals include results from all 36 Oregon counties.

Oregon has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 2002. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report had rated the seat as "solid Democrat," according to OPB.

Who ran

Merkley was first elected to the Senate in 2008 after serving in the Oregon House of Representatives, including two years as speaker, the Statesman Journal reported.

He said his decision to run again came down to three concerns: economic pressures on families, corruption in the federal government and what he described as the erosion of the Constitution under Trump.

"The thing that really tipped me over to saying yes, hell yes, I'm going to run again was Trump shredding our Constitution," Merkley said, according to the Statesman Journal.

Brock Smith, a state senator from Port Orford, is a third-generation southwest Oregonian and former restaurant owner. He said he has disagreements with Trump but argued voters should evaluate his candidacy independently of their feelings about the president.

Votes still being counted

Oregon is a vote-by-mail state. The Oregon Secretary of State's results page showed unofficial statewide voter turnout of 41.84% as of 9 p.m. on Nov. 3, with 1,300,876 ballots counted out of 3,109,081 active registered voters.

Election night tallies are not final. Oregon's statewide results are scheduled to be certified Dec. 10, according to the Statesman Journal.