Wayne Morse

If Gordon Smith loses, he'll be the first incumbent U.S. Senator ousted by Oregonians since Bob Packwood beat Wayne Morse in 1968.  Morse, who served in the Senate for 24 years, tried twice to mount political comebacks: he wanted to run against Mark Hatfield in 1972, but lost the Democratic primary; and won the 1974 Democratic primary, but died while campaigning against Packwood.

Some good news for Gordon Smith: Oregonians traditionally doesn’t vote out incumbent U.S. Senators. It’s been nearly forty years since a sitting Senator lost, and its only happened three times in state history.

That was in 1968, when Republican turned Independent turned Democrat Wayne Morse lost to Bob Packwood by 3,445 votes. Since voters began directly electing U.S. Senators in 1912, only two other incumbent Senators lost re-election bids: Republican Guy Gondon, 3,462 votes in 1954 (against Democrat Richard Neuberger), and Democrat George Chamberlain, who lost to Republican Robert Stanfield by 16,572 in 1920.

Bob Packwood was the last challenger to oust an incumbent U.S. Senator -- in 1968Some good news for Gordon Smith: Oregonians traditionally doesn’t vote out incumbent U.S. Senators. It’s been nearly forty years since a sitting Senator lost, and its only happened four times in state history.

The younger generation of Oregonians may not remember Wayne Morse, our Senator for 24 years and nationally prominent as a maverick who switched parties and fervently opposed the war in Vietnam.