State reference

How does government work in Oregon?

Oregon’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Oregon Constitution source
In effect since: 1857 source

What may surprise you here

Oregon has no lieutenant governor. If the governor’s office becomes vacant, the Secretary of State is first in line. source
The governor may not hold office more than eight years in any twelve-year period, a rule that counts years served within a window rather than consecutive terms. source
Oregon’s constitution has voters elect judges of the supreme and other courts, and state law lists the office of judge as nonpartisan. source

Legislature

Name: Legislative Assembly source
Senate: seats: 30 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 60 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Or. Const. art. IV, §§ 1, 4.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: No more than eight years in any period of twelve years source
Next regular election: 2030 source
Lieutenant governor: no such office source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: Court of Appeals source
Main trial court: Circuit Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: nonpartisan election source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 36 source
Cities and towns: Oregon has 240 municipal governments (cities) and no township governments, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source
Schools: All 223 of the state’s school systems are independent school districts, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: county clerks source
Primary type: partially closed source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: yes source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Tina Kotek Democratic, in office since January 9, 2023. source

US senators for Oregon
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Jeff Merkley	Democratic	Class 2	January 6, 2009	January 3, 2027
Ron Wyden	Democratic	Class 3	February 5, 1996	January 3, 2029

Members of the House for Oregon
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Suzanne Bonamici	Democratic	February 7, 2012
District 2	Cliff Bentz	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 3	Maxine Dexter	Democratic	January 3, 2025
District 4	Val T. Hoyle	Democratic	January 3, 2023
District 5	Janelle S. Bynum	Democratic	January 3, 2025
District 6	Andrea Salinas	Democratic	January 3, 2023

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 2