Wilderness coordinator seeks to unseat Bend Rep. Buehler
The Oregon Natural Desert Association’s wilderness coordinator filed Monday to run as a Democratic candidate for the Oregon House seat of incumbent state Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend.
Gena Goodman-Campbell, 32, is the Central Oregon wilderness coordinator for the Bend-based Oregon Natural Desert Association. She filed on the eve of Tuesday’s candidate filing deadline for the May 17 primary election ballot.
Goodman-Campbell and Buehler both have no opposing candidates so far. If no other candidates file to run by that 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, Goodman-Campbell will face off in November against Buehler, who was elected to the District 54 seat two years ago.
She lists as background her role in helping coordinate creation of the 29,000-acre Badlands Wilderness Area east of Bend in 2009 and as a campus organizer for the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG)
Land use is likely to be a key focus of the campaign, as Bend again seeks state approval of its urban growth boundary expansion. In 2010, Goodman-Campbell was chosen by the land-use watchdog group 1000 Friends of Oregon as one of the state’s “35 Innovators Under 35.”
Buehler has said the state’s land-use system is “dysfunctional” and has contributed to the shortage of housing that has sent rents soaring in Bend and elsewhere in the state.
Registered Democrats top Republicans by more than 7 percentage points in District 54, but about a quarter of voters in the Bend district are unaffiliated with any political party and about 7 percent are registered with the Independent Party of Oregon.
