The Oregon State Capitol with nearby blossoming cherry trees, on April 8, 2023.

A summary of governors and vacancies they had to fill in statewide elected offices in the past four decades. Govs. Barbara Roberts and Ted Kulongoski are excluded because they are mentioned in the main story. The 2015 resignation of Gov. John Kitzhaber also is excluded because the Oregon Constitution, which voters amended in 1972, specifies the order of succession for governor.

Vacancies for U.S. senator and representative are filled in special elections.

• Vic Atiyeh: James Brown for Democrat Jim Redden as attorney general, 1980, after Redden resigned to become a U.S. District Court judge; Republican Bill Rutherford for Clay Myers as state treasurer, 1984, after Myers resigned with nine months left in his second and final term.

• Neil Goldschmidt: Republican Tony Meeker for Rutherford as state treasurer in 1987, after Rutherford resigned midterm; John Erickson for Verne Duncan as state schools superintendent in 1989, after Duncan resigned to teach at the University of Portland; Norma Paulus for Erickson in 1990, after Paulus won the nonpartisan primary outright and Erickson resigned before the start of Paulus’ elected term. (That position is no longer elected.)

• John Kitzhaber, first tenure: Democrat Bill Bradbury for Phil Keisling as secretary of state in 1999, after Keisling resigned to take a job in the private sector with slightly more than one year left in his second term.

• John Kitzhaber, second tenure: Democrat Ellen Rosenblum for John Kroger as attorney general, 2012, after Rosenblum won the primary; Kroger, who did not seek reelection, left with six months left in his term to become president of Reed College.

• Kate Brown: Democrat Jeanne Atkins for Brown as secretary of state, 2015, upon Brown succeeding Kitzhaber as governor; Republican Bev Clarno as secretary of state, 2019, after the death of Dennis Richardson, who was elected in 2016 to the open position after Atkins did not seek a full term.