PENDLETON — Nolan Bylenga came from behind on Tuesday night to win the Democratic primary for House District 58.

He finished the night with 53% of the vote against Barbara Wright, who received 45%. Wright won the vote in Union and Wallowa counties and was initially ahead, but a surge of votes from Umatilla County put Bylenga in the lead later in the evening.

Bylenga, a 22-year-old Portland State University senior and Pendleton High School alumnus, will face Bobby Levy, an Echo farmer and president of the Eastern Oregon Women’s Coalition, in the general election in November.

Levy ran unopposed for the Republican nomination for the seat currently held by Republican Greg Barreto of Cove, who is retiring from office at the end of his term. Statewide, Levy received 37 write-in votes against her out of 9,437 votes.

Bylenga said he knows that his youth probably counted against him in the race against Wright. During the primary, he said, he was focused on getting voters to take him seriously as a candidate who has experience lobbying in Salem as part of his work to earn his political science degree. Now, he hopes to talk about the issues as he faces off with Levy.

“I want to be excited, but I also know there’s a lot of work to do in the general,” he said of his win.

The legislative seat hasn’t been won by a Democrat since 1996, but Bylenga said even though that is his party affiliation, in some cases he has common ground with Eastern Oregon Republicans.

“Like cap and trade — personally, I’m not a big fan of that, even though I’m part of the Democratic Party,” he said.

Levy said she was looking forward to continuing her campaign and listening to the concerns of voters, including some one-on-one interactions with people as stay-at-home restrictions begin to lift. She said she will continue to be passionate about finding ways to ease the tax burdens on Oregonians, and she is honored to be able to continue on to November.

“It’s been an incredibly humbling experience to see how many people voted, and how many people voted for me,” she said.

House District 57

Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, didn’t have a primary challenger for his seat representing House District 57, but he will face off with a Democratic opponent in November.

Smith received 99% of the vote as he ran unopposed to keep the seat he has held for 10 terms after being elected in November 2000. This is the first time he has had a Democratic opponent since 2010.

He will run against Roland Ruhe, a Democrat from Irrigon who owns a construction business. Ruhe ran unopposed in the primary.