Buehler wins GOP primary, faces Gov. Brown in the fall

(Update: Adding Buehler, Carpenter comments, later results)

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – State Rep. Knute Buehler won the Oregon GOP gubernatorial primary Tuesday, besting a crowded field vying to compete against incumbent Democrat Kate Brown in November.

Buehler, who ran for secretary of state in 2012, was the most centrist of the Republican front-runners.

“The team did a great job, they executed it beautifully. Our strategy all along was to speak to the general election, not just the Republican voters,” Buehler told NewsChannel 21. “We wanted to introduce me and my vision for what Oregon can and should be, not only for Republicans, but Independents and Democrats, and really set that foundation for the general election.”

While skeptical of major new spending, Buehler said he is open to increased taxes on electronics and regular cigarettes to pay for budget items like health care, and also to a carbon tax.

Buehler was considered a front-runner, along with retired Navy pilot Greg Wooldridge and Bend businessman Sam Carpenter.

Carpenter said at his Bend gathering Tuesday evening,, “It was a different way to take Oregon, a different direction because the government in Oregon is too large. It’s too intrusive, the taxes are too high, the forests are burning. It really is a roller coaster for a candidate. Overall, we felt very optimistic.”

In the early Wednesday count (full results here: http://results.oregonvotes.gov/Default.aspx), Buehler had about 47 percent of the votes, to 30 percent for Carpenter and 18 percent for Wooldridge.

At one Salem polling place, voters in Oregon’s primary described personal reactions to President Donald Trump and a renewed sense of civic obligation as motivating them to cast ballots.

Doug Crook, a Salem registered Republican, said he felt caught between the stances taken by politicians on both ends of the political spectrum.

He said he sympathized with some of the broader goals of the political left, like protecting workers, but that he thought many proposals floated by Democrats around the state were too extreme, including rent regulation and gun control.

But Crook said he also hesitates over some of the proposals from his own party, including extreme deregulation – and that he was put off by hearing some candidates embrace Trump.

Jennifer Leon Zayas, a registered Democrat and Salem-area teacher, said education was a major priority for her in the year’s elections, along with a renewed sense of civic duty.