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Chuck Riley, the Democratic challenger, has unseated Republican Sen. Bruce Starr, giving the Democrats an 18-to-12 majority in the Oregon Senate once the new term starts.

Democrat Chuck Riley has unseated incumbent Oregon Sen. Bruce Starr, a Republican, in the last legislative race to be decided. Given Riley's 221-point lead, it's clear that Starr won't be able to catch up.

The result helps give Democrats a stronger hand in Salem. For the 2015 legislative session, they'll control the House 35 to 25 and the Senate 18 to 12. And with Gov. John Kitzhaber's re-election, the party will also continue its long hold on the governor's office.

The count in Senate District 15 had seesawed since last Tuesday's election, with Riley initially leading the partial count, Starr taking over Wednesday morning, and then Riley regaining the lead and building a wider margin as the near-final votes were tallied. He now has enough votes beyond Starr's to easily avoid an automatic recount.

He now has enough votes beyond Starr's to easily avoid an automatic recount, which happens when the two top vote-getters are separated by two-tenths of 1 percent or less.

In the latest results, Riley has 17,930 votes to Starr's 17,709, or 45.6 percent to 45.1 percent.

-- Michelle Brence