Sen. Tim Knopp of Bend was named the new state Senate Republican leader in a surprise announcement Friday morning.

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, the GOP leader during the 2021 session, said he was stepping down immediately due to unspecified health concerns. Knopp is leader as of Friday.

“Republicans have a great opportunity to showcase our ideas and vision as a viable alternative to decades of failed Democratic leadership in Oregon,” Knopp said in a statement. “I look forward to serving this caucus to do just that.”

Democrats hold an 18-seat supermajority in the 30-member Senate. Knopp will also inherit a fractured group of GOP lawmakers.

It was unclear Friday how many senators voted on Knopp’s elevation to minority leader. A few senators elected as Republicans consider themselves as conservative independents apart from party structure.

Adding to the internal drama is Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg, who was elected Oregon Republican Party chair early this year.

Heard ran on a platform that the GOP in Oregon was not supportive enough of ex-President Donald Trump and needed to push harder against Gov. Kate Brown. One target: the governor’s emergency orders on anti-pandemic efforts like mandatory mask-wearing, business restrictions and promoting vaccination.

During the 2021 session, Heard was among a group of lawmakers supporting a walk-out over a controversial gun control bill.

Girod, Knopp and other veteran Republican lawmakers opted to vocally oppose the legislation.

But they stopped short of boycotting the session, which would have brought the Senate to a full stop. Democrats are two seats short of the minimum 20-member quorum to do any business. The Republicans have used walkouts in 2019 and 2020 .

Girod, whose home had burned down during the Labor Day fires in 2020, had the added stress of being the main target of rage by bitter conservative activists those who went to the Senate as “traitors.”

Girod and Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, confirmed they received death threats that were reported to the Oregon State Police. No arrests were made.

Leading the 10-member Senate GOP caucus is Knopp’s second stint as a legislative leader. He was House Majority Leader during part of his three terms representing Bend in the House from 1999 to 2005.

Knopp did not seek re-election in 2004 and was out of state politics for seven years. In 2012 he successfully challenged incumbent Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend. 

Knopp won about 60% of the general election vote in 2012 and 2016.

The rapid population increase in Deschutes County and a large turnout of Democrats seeking to defeat Trump in 2020 led to Knopp’s closest race. He won with 50.7% of the vote over Democrat Eileen Kiely, a former Daimler executive from Sunriver who previously lost a 2018 bid for the House District 53 seat.

Legislators in Oregon serve part-time. Knopp is executive vice president of the Central Oregon Builders Association and the executive director of Building Partners for Affordable Housing.

Knopp has been an advocate of reform to the Public Employee Retirement System, which continues to run up a multi-billion dollar deficit. He was a leader of a successful campaign to alter the Oregon Constitution to include the “kicker,” a flat-tax rebate that kicks in when the state takes in a certain amount of money over what it had projected. 

Knopp has lived in Central Oregon for nearly 40 years. He and his wife, Melissa, have been married over 30 years and have four children.