Federal race · November 3, 2026
U.S. Senate
Oregon's two U.S. senators vote on federal laws, the federal budget, treaties and presidential nominations, including federal judges and Cabinet members.
6-year term. Incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) is seeking a fourth term. Four candidates are printed on the ballot. Oregon lets a candidate appear with more than one nominating party: Jeff Merkley (Democrat, Working Families), David Brock Smith (Republican), Gary Lyndon Dye (Libertarian) and Chris Henry (Progressive, Pacific Green). Primaries were held May 19, 2026. Oregon ballots include a write-in line.
The candidates
Listed alphabetically by last name.
Gary Lyndon Dye
Libertarian Party nominee for U.S. SenateDye is the Libertarian Party of Oregon's nominee for U.S. Senate. He was also the party's Senate nominee against Merkley in 2020, when he was described as a Portland engineer. He did not submit a 2026 voters' pamphlet statement, and no campaign website was found.
Chris Henry
Union truck driverHenry is a truck driver and former UAW aircraft mechanic who is the nominee of both the Progressive Party and the Pacific Green Party. He was also the Progressive Party's U.S. Senate nominee in 2022. His campaign centers on cutting military spending, Medicare for All, higher wages and ending dark money in politics.
Jeff Merkley
U.S. Senator for Oregon (since 2009)Merkley has been one of Oregon's U.S. senators since 2009 and is a former speaker of the Oregon House. He is seeking a fourth term and also appears on the ballot as the Working Families Party nominee. His campaign centers on opposing the Trump administration's agenda, campaign finance and ethics changes, election rules, health care costs, housing and clean energy.
David Brock Smith
State Senator, Oregon Senate District 1 (since 2023)Smith is a state senator and small business owner from Port Orford on the southern Oregon coast. He previously served in the Oregon House and as a Curry County commissioner. He won a seven-candidate Republican primary in May 2026. His campaign centers on affordability, taxes, homelessness, public safety, wildfire prevention and the costs of data centers.
Compare on the issues
Summaries of each candidate's stated positions. See each profile for sources and details.
| Issue | Gary Lyndon Dye Libertarian | Chris Henry Progressive | Jeff Merkley Democratic | David Brock Smith Republican |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy & Jobs | No public position found yet | Supports tripling the $7.25 federal minimum wage, stronger antitrust enforcement, and ending tariffs and free trade deals he says override labor, consumer and environmental protections. | Says trade policies that ship jobs overseas have left workers behind, and supports workers' right to form unions and bargain over wages and benefits. | Supports incentives for job growth, more affordable housing and support for local small businesses. |
| Energy & Environment | No public position found yet | Supports protecting the environment and climate and increasing local wind and solar energy. | Supports a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, including a Green New Deal aimed at 100% clean and renewable energy. | Supports active forest management, fuel reduction and work with landowners to reduce wildfire risk, and says this would supply local timber and rural jobs. Says data centers should be held accountable so their effects on water, farmland and energy costs are not shifted onto Oregon households. |
| Health Care | No public position found yet | Supports Medicare for All. | Supports Medicare for All and barring drug companies from charging Americans more than they charge in Canada, Europe and Japan. | No public position found yet |
| Housing | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Supports banning hedge funds from buying single-family homes and making housing and child care affordable in every community. | On homelessness, supports drug and mental health treatment paired with accountability, and ending permanent street camping. |
| Taxes | No public position found yet | Opposes the 2025 federal tax law's benefits for the top 1% of households and supports taxing oil companies' excess profits. | No public position found yet | Opposes new tax increases and says he fought the 2025 gas tax increase; calls for eliminating fraud and cutting unnecessary government spending. |
| Education | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Supports smaller elementary class sizes, restoring shop and technical classes, and debt-free paths to trade school and college. | No public position found yet |
| Elections & Democracy | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Supports ending gerrymandering and secret campaign funding, requiring paper ballots, expanding vote-by-mail, overturning Citizens United and replacing the Electoral College with direct election of presidents. | No public position found yet |
| Foreign Policy | No public position found yet | Supports large cuts to U.S. military spending and overseas bases and ending what he calls pointless wars. | No public position found yet | No public position found yet |
| Immigration | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Says ICE agents should not carry out operations at schools or warrantless home raids, and calls for full accountability for civil rights violations. | No public position found yet |
| Infrastructure | No public position found yet | Supports converting essential infrastructure from large corporations into democratically accountable public utilities. | No public position found yet | No public position found yet |
| Public Safety | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | No public position found yet | Supports law enforcement and accountability and consequences for repeat offenders. |