SALEM — Oregon Sen. Mark Hass narrowly won the Democratic primary for secretary of state, with Wednesday morning results showing he edged Sen. Shemia Fagan by 1 percentage point in results tallied as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Hass had claimed 36% of the votes at that hour, just edging Fagan with 35%.

Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a natural resources consultant from Terrebonne, was in third place with 28% in the state’s highest profile primary race.

Hass, who is completing his 20th year in the Legislature, said Tuesday night of his lead, “I’m very gratified, but it’s way too close and way too early.” From the shuttered Noble Rot wine bar where he was watching results, Hass predicted, “It’s gonna be a long night.”

He led Fagan by 40% to 37% early Wednesday in Multnomah County, the county that historically has had the most last-minute ballots left to count after Election Day.

Fagan’s campaign could not be reached for comment on election night.

The results reflected the extreme competitiveness of the race, despite Fagan jumping in less than three months ago, after former Oregon House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson dropped out amid questions over her use of campaign funds. Williamson had pinned her candidacy on being the most left-leaning candidate and Fagan took up that mantle.

Public employee unions quickly lined up behind Fagan, spurning Hass over his votes to trim public pension costs and skipping over McLeod-Skinner, who lacks a state-level voting record.

The unions overwhelmingly bankrolled Fagan’s campaign, allowing her to raise more than her two opponents combined. Hass’ top contributor was environmental nonprofit founder Richard Roy, who gave him $50,000, and McLeod-Skinner raised the most of the three candidates in small donations of $100 or less: $84,000.

With no incumbent in the race, all three candidates faced the challenge of building name recognition with voters. That grew more difficult when the coronavirus pandemic hit Oregon just as the primary shifted into high gear in the spring and Fagan, Hass and McLeod-Skinner were forced to quickly adapt their campaigns to the state’s social distancing orders.

Hass, a former television journalist who now works in advertising, started out with some name recognition thanks to his years speaking to voters in the Portland area and Willamette Valley, first as a reporter, and then as a lawmaker for 20 years in the House and Senate. He promised that as secretary of state, he would create an office of elections cybersecurity, push to allow same-day voter registration, add climate change impacts to audits of state programs and advocate for ranked choice voting.

Hass cited his record championing “big ideas that are now Oregon law,” such as full-day kindergarten and a $1 billion-a-year business tax passed in 2019 to boost public education. As coronavirus wreaked havoc on the state’s health and economy, he touted his leadership experience during previous economic downturns as a key selling point.

Fagan is an employment lawyer who served four years in the House and two in the Senate, where she pushed Senate President Peter Courtney to allow floor votes on liberal policy priorities even if they lacked enough votes to pass and helped muscle through a statewide rent control law. She focused on connecting with voters based on her background of being raised by a single dad while her mother struggled with drug addiction, then going on to graduate from Lewis & Clark Law School.

Although Fagan didn’t lay out a clear policy platform, she concurred with Hass and McLeod-Skinner on a number of issues. For example, she agreed with Hass that Oregon should try out ranked choice voting. She pointed to her endorsements from groups, such as Planned Parenthood and the League of Conservation Voters, as reasons for voters to pick her, and said she was proud to receive huge financial contributions from unions because “these are the very people that we’re calling heroes.”

McLeod-Skinner, a natural resources consultant who serves on a statewide environmental board and local school board, sought to distinguish herself as the Democratic candidate who could connect with both rural and urban areas of the state. She pointed to her competitive 2018 race against U.S. Rep. Greg Walden in the sprawling and strongly Republican 2nd Congressional District and promised to “represent the entire state,” saying during a City Club of Portland forum in March “that’s a voice that needs to be heard in Salem.”

Hass will go on to run against Republican nominee, Sen. Kim Thatcher of Keizer, in the general election. The current secretary of state, Republican Bev Clarno of Redmond, was appointed to the role after the death of Dennis Richardson and pledged not to run for an elected term.