Spenser, Fagan win close Democratic primary races

For 2nd Congressional District, secretary of state

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Alex Spenser has won the Democratic primary in Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District race, while Shemia Fagan, a state senator from Portland, has won the Democratic primary for Oregon secretary of state in a pair of close races.

Spenser, of Klamath Falls, will face former sate senator Cliff Bentz of Ontario, who won the GOP contest.

Voters in November will chose a replacement for Rep. Greg Walden, the Republican who didn’t run for a 12th term in the conservative region covering the rural eastern and central part of the state.

Bentz will have the advantage in the fall in the predominantly Republican part of the state. The 2nd is the only Oregon U.S. House District represented by a Republican.

Oregon’s four Democratic U.S. House members all won their primaries.

Fagan beat fellow state Sen. Mark Hass, of Beaverton, in a very tight race for the secretary of state nomination. She will face state Sen. Kim Thatcher in the fall. Thatcher, from Keizer, won the GOP primary.

The secretary of the state, who is Oregon’s second-highest elected official, runs elections and other matters.

Check the latest primary election results here.