PORTLAND – Oregon’s senior U.S. senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, easily won re-election on Tuesday, defeating a Republican challenger who has never held office.
Wyden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, chairs the powerful US Senate Finance Committee and also sits on the Energy and Natural Resources, Budget and Intelligence committees.
As legislative accomplishments, he points to his work on clean energy tax credits, including a key role in the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – drug price reduction measures, tax reform and development of the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Wyden, 73, is known for holding town halls in each of Oregon’s 36 counties, thousands of them over the years.
He previously served in the US House of Representatives from 1981 to 1996, representing Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District.
Wyden raised $13.8 million this election cycle, according to reports from the Federal Election Commission.
His Republican challenger, Joe Rae Perkins, 66, of Albany, previously ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2014 and for the 4th Congressional District in 2016 and 2018. He won 33% of the vote in the Republican primary.
Perkins, who has a background in the financial services industry, calls himself “Main Street America” and has supported QAnon conspiracy theorists. He questions the validity of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, opposes masks and vaccines for COVID-19, and does not support abortion for any reason.
According to FEC records, he has raised more than $92,000.
A third candidate, Chris Henry of the Oregon Progressive Party, is a truck driver and airplane mechanic who ran for Oregon Labor and Industry Commissioner this year but lost in the May primary.
As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, Wyden had 56% of the vote. Republican Joe Rae Perkins has 41.5 percent of the vote. Chris Henry of the Progressive Party got 1.6% and Dan Pulju of the Pacific Green Party got 1%.
Pre-election coverage of the candidates:
There are four candidates on the November ballot that will determine the 2022 race to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
The race pits incumbent Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, against Joe Rae Perkins, a Republican, and two minor-party candidates: Chris Henry of the Oregon Progressive Party and Dan Pulju of the Pacific Green Party.
Ron Wyden
Senator Ron Wyden since 1996 he has been representing the state of Oregon in the US Senate. Between 1981 and 1996, he represented Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers most of Multnomah County, in the US House of Representatives.
Wyden is the chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee.
In this year’s re-election bid, Wyden will point voters to several recent legislative successes in which he contributed.
Wyden said he was proud of his contributions to recent legislation on federal investments in clean energy tax credits, measures to lower drug prices, tax reform and semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
Joe Ray Perkins
Joe Ray Perkins, a 66-year-old Albany resident with a background in finance and real estate, is running for the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket. He most recently ran for the US Senate in 2020, but lost to incumbent Senator Jeff Merkley.
Perkins opposes sending money to other regions, such as Ukraine, and believes that this money should be spent on securing the southern border. Perkins said that the situation in Ukraine is not clear and that the Americans are not getting a “clear answer”.
Perkins has opposed mask and vaccine mandates through the COVID-19 pandemic, saying she has not been vaccinated.
Perkins said that federal policy and the actions of the Federal Reserve System are responsible for the current level of inflation. He opposes raising the debt ceiling and wants to dismantle the Fed, which he considers an unconstitutional organization.
He said wildfires in Oregon are getting worse because of federal land control, which he says is mismanaged.
Chris Henry
Chris HenryThe 58-year-old truck driver is running for the US Senate on the Oregon Progressive Party ticket.
Henry has previously run for state treasurer, governor, state attorney general, state labor commissioner, and the U.S. House of Representatives, but has never been elected to office. This is his first time running for a seat in the US Senate.
Henry said campaign finance reform is one of his top priorities. He wants to overturn the consequences of Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns.
Dan Pulju
Dan Puljua 51-year-old pollster from Eugene, is running for the US Senate on the Pacific Green Party ticket.
As a minor-league candidate who has donated nearly $1,000 to his campaign, Pulju said he doesn’t expect to win the race, but hopes even a modest win will help Oregonians move away from the two-party system. did
One of Pulju’s main campaign issues is ending “perpetual wars,” a geopolitical situation in the United States and elsewhere that he believes benefits elites at the expense of ordinary people. He said that the current manifestation of the problem is the conflict in Ukraine and its predecessors, and Pulju said that he wants the United States to end its involvement in it.
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