Knute Buehler, the 2018 Republican nominee for governor, endorsed Sen. Betsy Johnson, who is running an insurgent campaign for governor with no party affiliation in 2022.

Johnson’s campaign on Tuesday released a “dear friends” letter Buehler sent to past supporters.

“I am endorsing Betsy Johnson for Governor,” Buehler writes. “Betsy’s plain-spoken, independent spirit and proven record of putting the concerns of everyday Oregonians before partisan politics is exactly what Oregon needs right now.”

The letter ends with a link to Johnson’s campaign fundraising committee.

Buehler said the closed primaries of the Democratic and Republican parties would put candidates on the ballot who represented the most extreme elements of the major parties.

“It is vital that we break the iron grip monopoly of the radical left on power, politics, and policy in our state,” Buehler said of Democrats.

Republicans would likely nominate someone who Buehler believes would have little chance of appealing to most voters in Oregon, which has not elected a Republican as governor since 1982.

“Unfortunately, the Republican Party is no longer a viable alternative in Oregon,” Buehler said.

Buehler, who ran for secretary of state, the legislature, governor and congress as a Republican, re-registered as a “non-affiliated” voter in February. He said then-President Trump’s instigation of a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 led to his decision.

Johnson’s announced Nov. 8 that she would run as an unaffiliated candidate after 21 years in the Legislature as a Democrat. She said it was the best route to give Oregon voters an alternative to a “left-wing liberal” and a “right-wing Trump apologist.”

“Oregonians are ready to move to the middle where sensible solutions are found,” she said.

Johnson’s decision met with immediate disapproval from party leaders.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, stripped her of her co-chairmanship of the powerful Ways & Means Committee, the state’s main budget-writing panel. Johnson remains a registered Democrat and retains her seat in the Senate.

Johnson has consistently been the most moderate of Democrats in the Senate. While backing most of her party’s social issue stances, including support for abortion rights, she has voted with Republicans on issues such as business restrictions, gun rights and limiting carbon emissions. 

Buehler brings a long list of major donors, having raised $19 million in his unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018. Together with incumbent Gov. Kate Brown, who won the election, the two candidates raised nearly $40 million, a record amount for a race for Oregon governor.

Johnson’s campaign, which already leads fundraising for 2021, has raised $2.1 million, including several $100,000 contributions from the timber industry and business owners. She currently has $2.3 million in the bank.

A big question is whether Buehler’s endorsement will help convince Nike founder Phil Knight to back Johnson. He contributed $2.5 million to Buehler’s 2018 campaign.

Knight has not publicly expressed a preference in the 2022 governor’s race. 

The Democratic and Republican nominees will be selected in the May 17, 2022 primary.

Johnson then has to submit about 24,000 valid signatures backing her candidacy to the secretary of state over the early summer to go directly on the Nov. 8 general election.

Early money and endorsements

Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who now lives in Yamhill County, has raised the most of the announced Democratic candidates.

Since entering the race a little over a month ago, he’s received over $1.7 million in contributions, with most of the largest contributions over $10,000 coming from out-of-state sources.

State Treasurer Tobias Read has received over $661,000 and House Speaker Tina Kotek has pulled in $512,000. 

Both Read and Kotek were able to roll over contributions from their previous campaign committees into the governor’s race.

Kotek has drawn the bulk of early endorsements in the Democratic primary, including 22 Democratic House members, three Democratic Senators, Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle and 14 union and activists groups, ranging from the Oregon State Building Trades Council to the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

Kristof has received the endorsement of the state’s largest private employees union, United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 555.

Among Republicans, 2016 GOP governor nominee Bud Pierce has reported just over $767,000 in contributions, with about half self-financed. Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam has raised $575,000 and longtime GOP consultant Bridget Barton of Portland has received over $491,000.

The latest entry in the GOP race, Rep. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, has raised over $204,000, including money rolled over from her House campaign committee. She recently stepped down as House minority leader to concentrate on planning a formal campaign announcement early next year. She will retain her House seat.

Switching allegiances

Johnson, 70, was first elected as a Democrat to the House in 2000 and has represented districts on the southern and northern coasts of Oregon. She was appointed to the Senate in 2015 and has won election to six four-year terms. 

She was last re-elected in 2018, with 82% of the vote and has not faced a Republican opponent since 2016.

Johnson was born in Bend and is the daughter of the late Sam Johnson, a prominent timber businessman who served in the House and later as mayor of Redmond as a Republican.

Betsy Johnson ran a successful aviation business and served as manager of the Aeronautics Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation before entering politics.

Tuesday’s endorsement is a return to Buehler’s oldest political stance as a backer of a candidate outside the major parties.

Buehler’s first major political activity was as chief Oregon organizer for independent Ross Perot’s 1992 campaign for president. 

After becoming an orthopedic surgeon in Bend, Buehler ran as a Republican for secretary of state in 2012, losing the general election to the incumbent, Democrat Kate Brown.

Brown became governor in early 2015 following the resignation of Gov. John Kitzhaber in an influence peddling scandal.

Buehler was elected to the House as a Republican in 2014, representing Bend. He was re-elected in 2016, the same year Brown won a special election against Republican Bud Pierce to serve the rest of Kitzhaber’s term. Pierce has filed to run for governor as a Republican in 2022.

Buehler was a moderate Republican who backed most of his party’s business-friendly agenda, but voted with Democrats on abortion rights and gay rights issues.

Buehler did not support the candidacy of President Donald Trump and was critical of Trump both as a candidate and as president.

Despite being tagged as a “RINO” — “Republican In Name Only” — by conservatives in the GOP, Buehler entered the 2018 Republican primary for governor.

Early financial support from Knight and a rift on the right-wing of the party led to Buehler winning the GOP primary with 46.2% of the vote. Businessman Sam Carpenter of Bend and former Blue Angels aviator Greg Wooldridge of Portland split the 49.2% of the combined conservative vote.

Brown started out as the favorite in the race. With fundraising approaching the $40 million level, some national campaign tracking experts rated the November election as “too close to call.”

On election night, a large turnout in Portland gave Brown a surprisingly comfortable win with 50.1% against 43.7% for Buehler, with other candidates receiving the remaining fractions.

In 2020, Buehler entered the Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat, which was open following the announced retirement of U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River after more than two decades in office.

Buehler tried to reverse his reputation as a critic of Trump, supporting the then-president’s policies and re-election bid for the White House. Buehler finished second in a crowded field to Sen. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, who went on to win the heavily Republican district in the November general election.

Buehler said earlier this year that he was not interested in running for the 5th Congressional District seat that will include Bend under a 2022 redistricting plan.

In February, Buehler announced he was leaving the Republican party over the actions by then-President Donald Trump to agitate supporters at a Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally at the White House rally.

Trump and other speakers repeated his unfounded claims that he had won the election and was only stopped from a second term by widespread election fraud. 

Following the rally, rioters that included Trump supporters and members of right-wing groups attacked the U.S. Capitol while Congress was in a joint session to certify the Electoral College vote electing Democrat Joe Biden as president.

Members of the House and Senate were forced to hide as the attackers stormed their way into the Capitol. After often violent clashes, Congress reconvened late that evening. Despite Republican challenges to some state votes, Congress confirmed Biden’s victory.

Buehler said he was also moved to leave the GOP when the Oregon Republican Party and chair Bill Currier claimed the riot was actually a “black flag” operation led by left-wing agitators.

The statement was swiftly rebuked by many Oregon Republican leaders. The Oregon House Republican Caucus issued a letter signed by all 23 members, led by then minority leader Drazan, rejecting the state party’s claim.

“The election is over,” the caucus statement said. “It is time to govern.”

The office of Secretary of State Shemia Fagan confirmed on Feb. 11 that Buehler had changed his registration to non-affiliated.