Sen. Jeff Merkley won reelection to Oregon's U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeating Republican state Sen. David Brock Smith, the Associated Press reported.

The AP declared Merkley the winner at 11 p.m. Eastern time. The victory gives the Democrat a fourth term in the Senate.

Initial statewide results showed Merkley at 57.06% with 731,076 votes and Brock Smith at 40.24% with 515,659 votes, according to the Banks Post. Chris Henry, the Progressive and Pacific Green Party nominee, drew 1.76% with 22,494 votes. Libertarian Gary Lyndon Dye received 0.87% with 11,167 votes. Those totals include results from all 36 counties.

The race carries national weight. Control of the U.S. Senate could hinge on a handful of seats, according to NBC News, and Oregon is one of dozens of states deciding its direction.

The candidates

Jeff Merkley was first elected to the Senate in 2008 after serving in the Oregon House of Representatives, including two years as House speaker, the Statesman Journal reported. He said his decision to run again came down to three concerns: economic pressures on families, corruption in the federal government and what he described as the erosion of the Constitution under President Donald Trump.

"The thing that really tipped me over to saying yes, hell yes, I'm going to run again was Trump shredding our Constitution," Merkley said, according to the Statesman Journal.

David Brock Smith, a state senator from Port Orford, is a third-generation southwest Oregonian and former restaurant owner. He has served in local government and the Oregon Legislature, first as a state representative and then as a state senator. He said he has disagreements with Trump but argued voters should evaluate his candidacy independently of their feelings about the president.

"Oregon is in trouble," Brock Smith said. "I felt that this was the moment that was necessary to try to bring Oregonians another option."

Chris Henry, the Progressive Party and Pacific Green Party nominee, is a truck driver and former aircraft mechanic. He has run in Oregon elections for nearly two decades, in part to maintain ballot access for minor parties in the state.