Oregon Public Broadcasting

Gordon Smith has only a few weeks left as a U.S. Senator. Thursday his colleagues paid tribute to the defeated Republican on the Senate floor.

Oregon’s other U.S. Senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, campaigned for Smith’s Democratic challenger, Jeff Merkley.  But in a speech to his colleagues, Wyden said the Senate is losing an important advocate for rural Americans.

Ron Wyden:  “Gordon spoke for the farmer, and he spoke for the rancher.  He spoke for the logger, for the mill worker, and the miner. And he spoke for the rural communities they live in; communities that struggle to retain a voice in increasingly urban America.”

Smith lost his re-election bid in an upset to Democrat Jeff Merkley earlier this month.  The Pendleton frozen food plant owner says he’ll step out of the public eye for the time being.