NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : EDITION-TIME COMPILATIONS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Oregon

Oregonians narrowly chose former Portland Mayor Neil Goldschmidt as their new governor and sent Republican Bob Packwood back to the U.S. Senate for a fourth term.

Voters also overwhelmingly defeated ballot measures to legalize the possession and cultivation of marijuana for personal use and shut down the state’s only nuclear power plant, the Trojan plant near Portland.

With 58% of the vote counted, Goldschmidt led Republican Norma Paulus by a 52-48% margin. He had 235,269 votes to Paulus’ 217,454.

Goldschmidt, who served as President Jimmy Carter’s transportation secretary, claimed victory at a party in downtown Portland, telling supporters “I look forward to serving the next four years as governor.”

Goldschmidt succeeds retiring GOP Gov. Vic Atiyeh.

Four incumbent congressmen, Democrats Ron Wyden and Les AuCoin and Republicans Bob Smith and Denny Smith, were reelected. Democrat Peter DeFazio also defeated Republican Bruce Long for the seat of Rep. Jim Weaver, who ran for the Senate and then withdrew from the race when the House Ethics Committee investigated his campaign financing.

A citizens initiative that would have given Oregon the most liberal marijuana laws in the nation was soundly defeated. The measure lost by better than a 3-1 margin--76-24%.

The law would have legalized possession and cultivation of marijuana for personal use.