Democrats on Tuesday celebrated a one seat gain in the state Senate that gave them a three-fifths supermajority in the upper chamber.

The supermajority, which Democrats also gained in the House, could make it easier for the Legislature to pass tax increases, which have been a priority of some Democrats. A larger Democratic majority might also make it easier to pass controversial proposals like climate change legislation that have been held up by opposition on both sides of the aisle.

But it remains to be seen how empowering the results of the election will be. The Legislature will still find itself in familiar territory in 2019 — facing a structural deficit despite a booming economy and trying to address poorly performing public schools while looking to patch a $22 billion deficit in the public pension system.

Phil Keisling, director of the Center for Public Service at Portland State University, said the consequences of the partisan balance in the Legislature were probably never as promising or as dire as either side suggested because of another other mechanism in Oregon law — the ability of voters to bring any controversial decision to the ballot, particularly on taxes.

"Just because you can get a supermajority doesn't mean it will stick," he said.

Democrat Jeff Golden and Republican Jessica Gomez battled for the Senate District 3 seat.

Key races included Senate District 3 in southern Oregon, where Democrat Jeff Golden, who has worked in both government policy and private sector media jobs, defeated Jessica Gomez, a moderate Republican businesswoman.

This closely watched race was set up by the retirement of Sen. Alan DeBoer, R-Ashland, in a district where Democrats had a nearly 8-percentage-point voter registration advantage. Democrats lost this seat in a special election after the death of Democratic Sen. Alan Bates in 2016, but DeBoer's victory was narrow. He won by 400 votes in a race where 65,000 were cast.

Golden had received 56 percent of the vote in preliminary results, versus 43 percent for Gomez.

Republicans made a goal-line stand in this district, pumping nearly $570,000 into Gomez's campaign, including $410,000 since the May 15 primaries, much of it from business interests. That compares with Golden's $207,000 in fundraising, $132,000 since the primary.

One of the key planks of Golden's campaign was his refusal to take money from political action committees. He also disavowed the negative messaging about his opponent that the independent PAC expenditures funded.

The PACs showed up in a major way, despite his wishes. The Senate Democrat Leadership PAC, along with unions and trial lawyers, poured $445,000 into the Southern Oregon Priorities PAC, money that bought mailers, radio, TV and digital ads.

Tom Powers, executive director of the Senate Democratic Leadership Fund, said some of that money went to supporting Gov. Kate Brown's campaign and defeating Measure 106, which would prevent taxpayer funding of abortions. But he said most of the money went to the Golden campaign.

"This was a Democratic seat for 12 years" before Bates' death, he said. "There's been a lot of enthusiasm in this race, starting in the primaries, and that hasn't stopped. The turnout is incredible in this district especially on the Democratic side."

Paul Rainey, a spokesman for the Republican's No Supermajorities PAC, said it was hypocritical for Golden to disavow PAC spending when he had a half-million dollars in special interest money supporting him.

"They essentially ran a campaign for him," Rainey said.

Golden is a Democrat's Democrat. During the campaign, he expressed support for raising corporate taxes to support education, raising beer and wine taxes and scrapping the state kicker refund. He also supports charging companies for their greenhouse gas emissions and wants to expand Oregon's Medicaid health insurance program for the poor, with the goal of allowing any Oregonian to get coverage.

Golden has a personal stake in the state's underfunded pension system. He's a Tier One beneficiary and potentially set up for a relatively generous benefit under the system's lucrative money match formula after two relatively short but well-timed stints in the public sector: four years as a Jackson County commissioner starting in the late 1980s and working on water policy for the city of Portland in the mid-1990s.

Golden said he's open to asking employees to chip in money to cover some of their pension costs and might be amenable to some of the other reforms being floated, but he doesn't see the benefit of "pistol-whipping" average employees for the system's funding problems.

OTHER KEY SENATE RACES

In Hood River, Republican Sen. Chuck Thomsen narrowly fended off a challenge from Democrat Chrissy Reitz in a district where the Democrats have a 7-percentage-point voter registration edge. On Wednesday afternoon, with most all the votes counted, Thomsen maintained a 599 vote lead. He had 50.5 percent of the vote versus 49.4 percent for Reitz - a big enough margin to avoid triggering a recount.

Senate District 26 reaches into Multnomah, east Clackamas and Hood River counties. Clackamas County voters broke heavily for Thomsen, while the reverse was true in Hood River County. Thomsen, who was running for his third term, is a fourth-generation orchardist. Reitz is a school board member and former neonatal intensive care nurse.

In Senate District 20, where Democrats hold a slight voter registration advantage, Republican Sen. Alan Olsen — a general contractor successfully defended his seat against Democratic challenger and Oregon Health Authority policy adviser Charles Gallia.

In the Senate District 15 race in Washington County, Democratic Sen. Chuck Riley easily warded off a challenge from Republican Alexander Flores, a supply chain analyst for Daimler Trucks North America. Both candidates are from Hillsboro.

in Senate District 10, Senate Republican leader Jackie Winters won her bid for re-election in a race with Democrat Deb Patterson, a health care advocate with faith-based organizations.

Winters was ahead by 53 percent to 46 percent in early returns.

This was a more contentious race than some observers might have predicted earlier this year. In August, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Winters' homeowners association board — on which she serves — was sued this year by the parents of a girl with disabilities after the board barred her school bus from the subdivision. Winters and other board members were concerned that allowing a school bus into the subdivision could damage streets and endanger other pedestrians, according to the association's lawyers.

Winters' fundraising, $530,000 in this cycle, dwarfed Patterson's $93,000 haul.

503-221-8505; @tedsickinger