Primary Day in Oregon: Gov. Brown Will Face Bud Pierce

It is, without question, an upset.

Bud Pierce, an oncologist from Salem who had never run office, has defeated the better known Allen Alley in the race for the chance to take on Gov. Kate Brown.

Pierce was up by 17 percentage points, early election-night results indicated.

Brown, who had two opponents in the race for the Democratic nomination, won easily in her quest for her first full term.

She took office last year after John Kitzhaber abruptly resigned.

Pierce has an uphill battle.

The last Republican governor in Oregon was Vic Atieyh, who left office in 1982.

Sen. Ron Wyden easily won re-nomination from the Democrats, securing 84 percent of the vote.

His Republican challenger will likely be IT consultant Mark Callahan, who defeated three challengers..

When Brown moved up from the Secretary of State’s office, the woman who replaced her, Jeanne Atkins, vowed she would not run for her own term, creating a vacancy.

There are three Democrats running to replace her: Richard Devlin, Val Hoyle and Brad Avakian.

Avakian is leading Hoyle, 40 percent to 33 percent. Devlin is in third with 26 percent.

The Republicans nominated Dennis Richardson, who lost the governor’s race to Kitzhaber.

Another vacancy being filled is the office of State Treasurer. The current officeholder is Ted Wheeler, who is running for mayor of Portland.

Tobias Reed is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination and Jeff Gudman has no opponent for the Republican nomination. Chris Teifer won the nomination of the Independent Party.

For state Attorney General, the incumbent, Ellen Rosenblum, had no opponent for the Democratic nomination.

She will face Daniel Crowe, who won the Republican nomination. He did not have an opponent, either.