About Gordon H. Smith
Gordon Harold Smith is an American politician, businessman, and religious leader who served as a United States Senator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Senate from 1997 to 2009. From 2009 to 2022, he served as president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). He served as an area seventy for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2012 to 2022, and since March 2025 has served as the church's director of hosting at Temple Square. As of 2026, he is the last Republican to represent Oregon in the U.S. Senate. Smith became the first person to run for the Senate twice in one year. Smith then went to college at Brigham Young University, received a Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern University School of Law, and became an attorney in New Mexico and Arizona. Smith entered politics with his election to the Oregon State Senate in 1992, and became president of that body in 1995. This time he won, easily defeating Lon Mabon (whose organization, the Oregon Citizens Alliance, had previously endorsed Smith over Wyden) in the Republican primary and Democrat Tom Bruggere in the general election by a close margin.
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