ENTERPRISE, Ore. — Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash won election to the Oregon State Senate on Nov. 5, brushing off a challenge from a nonaffiliated candidate.

Early unofficial returns from Senate District 29, which covers a good chunk of Northeastern Oregon, had Nash with 30,091 votes (82%) and his opponent, Tania Wildbill, with 6,430 votes (17.5%).

Nash, a Republican, will succeed retiring GOP Sen. Bill Hansell when the Legislature convenes in Salem in January. Nash has said he believes he may be the first Wallowa County resident to win election to the state Senate. 

Nash, who won a four-way primary race in May to earn the GOP nomination, also is a cattle rancher and a former president of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association.

Wildbill ran in the Senate race as a candidate not affiliated with any political party and said she would not accept campaign contributions. 

She dropped out of the Democratic primary for the Senate seat in order to run as a nonaffiliated candidate and earned a spot on the ballot in August by collecting the required number of signatures on a petition. She said she was not accepting campaign contributions.

Senate District 29 includes all of Gilliam, Morrow, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, and Wheeler counties, as well as parts of Clackamas, Jefferson, Marion, and Wasco counties.

House District 58

In House District 58, which includes Wallowa and Union counties and a portion of Umatilla County, incumbent Rep. Bobby Levy of Echo was reelected. Levy was unopposed and collected 16,116 votes in early unofficial returns.