The 1962 Election in Oregon

Abstract

T HE OREGON ELECTORATE voted to maintain the status quo in the 1962 election. General election results for major offices continued the trend of recent years, with Oregon voters splitting their ballots and thereby re-electing all incumbents and retaining almost the same division in the state legislature. One must look to ballot measures, local contests, and the primary elections for unique developments. Of special interest was the emergence of the pre-primary endorsement in Oregon. The incumbents who won re-election were veteran Democratic Senator Wayne Morse, whose shift from the Republican party in 1952 is still a source of bitterness among Republicans; Republican Governor Mark Hatfield; Democratic Labor Commissioner Norman O. Nilsen; First District Republican Congressman Walter Norblad; Second District Democratic Congressman Al Ullman; and Third District Democratic Congresswoman Edith Green. In the Fourth District, Speaker Robert Duncan recaptured that House seat for the Democrats, replacing Dr. Edwin R. Durno who had not sought a second term and had bid unsuccessfully for the G.O.P. Senate nomination. The Democrats will again control the state legislature with the same thin margin they held in the 1961 House, 31 to 29, and a Senate majority of 21 to 9, an increase over the 20 to 10 margin of 1961. These margins are of slight importance, since there is very little party cohesion in the legislature. A striking illustration of this was the coalition of 10 Republicans and 9 Democrats which filled the powerful office of Senate president over the opposition of a majority of 11 of the 20 Democrats! The impact of personalities (or the lack of political personality) on the electorate seemed to be the major factor in the 1962 campaign. Controversial Wayne Morse and nationally ambitious Mark Hatfield won handily, the latter overcoming a big registration advantage for the Democrats. Both represented the liberal wings of their respective parties and both had general election opponents who had themselves defeated rivals of a more conservative hue in the May primary election. But this is not to say the voters had only a choice of two liberals in each race: the point is that neither party chose to nominate the more conservative candidate in its primary. Campaign organizations and finance were generally those mobilized by the leading candidates themselves although some precinct work was done by the parties and organized labor. The Democrats formed more of a united front with the several leading Democrats appearing in behalf of each other on radio and television programs. On the other side, Governor Hatfield ran his campaign largely as an individual effort offering little support for Republican senatorial aspirant Sig Unander who had been a Hatfield primary opponent in the gubernatorial race of 1958. Even Time magazine noted this lack of support. However, when the Democratic registration bulge of 473,561 to 395,351 Republicans is considered, it is easy to see why the Democrats cooperated and the Republicans went their