Jeff Merkley

Jeff Merkley
Official portrait, 2017
United States Senator from Oregon
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009 Serving with Ron Wyden
Preceded by	Gordon Smith
64th Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives
In office January 3, 2007 – January 2, 2009
Preceded by	Karen Minnis
Succeeded by	Dave Hunt
Member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 47th district
In office January 3, 1999 – January 2, 2009
Preceded by	Frank Shields
Succeeded by	Jefferson Smith
Personal details
Born	Jeffrey Alan Merkley (1956-10-24) October 24, 1956 (age 67) Myrtle Creek, Oregon, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mary Sorteberg ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	2
Education	Stanford University (BA) Princeton University (MPA)
Website	Senate website
Jeff Merkley's voice Jeff Merkley on the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2022 Recorded September 29, 2022

Jeffrey Alan Merkley (born October 24, 1956) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1999 to 2009 as the representative for the 47th district in the Oregon House of Representatives, which covers central Multnomah County on the eastern side of Portland; he was the speaker of the House during the last two years of his tenure.

In 2008, Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Gordon Smith and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins. During his tenure, Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism and was the only U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.^[1] He was considered a potential candidate for president in 2020, but chose to run for reelection to the Senate instead.^[2]