Rep. Knute Buehler Won't Run For Governor in 2016

Dr. Knute Buehler
By NIGEL JAQUISS

The Oregon GOP's top potential state-wide candidate is sitting out 2016.

State Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend) announced this morning he will not run for governor in 2016.

Buehler, an orthopedic surgeon and Rhodes scholar, challenged then-Secretary of State Kate Brown in 2012 and had considered challenging now-Gov. Brown next year, when she will run for the remaining two years of what would have been former Gov. John Kitzhaber's fourth term.

Since taking over as governor upon Kitzhaber's Feb. 18 resignation, Brown has earned high marks. That and the likely large Democratic turnout in the 2016 presidential election have convinced GOP insiders that Buehler probably has a better chance to defeat Brown in 2018 than he would next year.

He certainly left that possibility open in the statement he released today. Here it is:

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