Ex-Blazer Chris Dudley, who narrowly lost governor’s race in 2010, says he’s running again for GOP nomination

By Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Chris Dudley, the ex-Portland Trail Blazer who came closer than any Republican in decades to winning an Oregon governor’s race, said Monday that he will run for the position once again, entering an increasingly crowded field for the upcoming May primary.

Dudley made his announcement in a Monday morning campaign video, corroborating months of speculation. Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber defeated him in 2010 by less than 1 percentage point, one of the strongest outcomes for a recent Republican statewide candidate.

Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican as governor since the 1980s, and only two Republicans have won a statewide election since 2000.

“I have traveled around the state and met with people who’ve shared a variety of opinions, stories and challenges. Yet what I found to be most encouraging is why I’m standing here today,” Dudley said Monday. “What they all have in common is a love of our great state and a desire for these same things: quality education, safety, affordability and a good job. These are achievable. There are real solutions, and I have a plan.”

He offered few policy specifics Monday, with his campaign website offering a biography of Dudley, a press release and campaign video. 

When he ran for governor in 2010, Dudley outraised Kitzhaber and portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative seeking to cut taxes for businesses in the state without straying to the right on social issues — like other Republican nominees for governor in the 2000s and 2010s, he supported abortion rights. He also at the time said he was unaware of the extent to which global warming was a man-made phenomenon, despite widespread scientific consensus that human activity is the principal driver of climate change.

Dudley’s tone on Monday, however, stood in contrast to the searing criticism of Oregon’s Democratic leadership delivered by some of his fellow contenders for the Republican nomination, among them state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby and the Jan. 6 rioter and conservative influencer David Medina, who announced his candidacy last week. 

The other top contenders for the nomination include Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell, who is facing an ethics investigation into whether she used her position to benefit her children, and Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, a prominent social conservative and lead organizer behind an anti-tax ballot referendum aiming to combat fee increases to pay for the state’s rising transportation costs. 

Dudley, meanwhile, is a 60-year-old wealth management businessman based in Sisters and a Yale University graduate. He spent 16 seasons playing in the NBA, earning a reputation for his advocacy for youth health due to his experience having Type 1 diabetes. Despite courting Republican leaders and donors last year, he had previously held off making any official announcements about his candidacy. 

Two of his opponents on Monday suggested that they were more well-suited for the position in light of Dudley moving to Southern California, where he went to high school, two years after his 2010 election loss. He kept a home and continued voting in the state of Oregon, however, as the Oregon Journalism Project reported.

“I appreciated Chris’ campaign in 2010, but Oregon is in a much different place today. When things have been tough, I didn’t move away — I worked hard to become part of the solution,” Bethell said in a statement. “From serving on my kids’ school board to winning re-election as Commissioner of the fifth-largest county in Oregon, I have led every step of the way. I am still the only candidate with current executive experience, ready with scalable solutions to help all Oregonians.”

Drazan, who lost to Gov. Tina Kotek in 2022 by less than 67,000 votes, said Monday that she has “never stopped working and fighting for the future of my state.”

“I look forward to earning the support of Republicans in this primary and to working with our neighbors across the state to defeat Tina Kotek in November,” she said in a statement.

Diehl and his campaign did not immediately respond to inquiries seeking comment. 

The Democratic Governors Association, which spent more than $6 million to elect Kotek in 2022, called the slate of Republican candidates a “messy, crowded, clown car of a primary.”

“As Republicans race to prove who’s most loyal to Donald Trump, Governor Kotek is focused on tackling the state’s toughest challenges: reducing homelessness by building new shelter beds and increasing access to addiction and mental health services, lowering costs, and expanding affordable child care,” said spokesperson Johanna Warshaw. “That’s the kind of leadership Oregonians will stick with, no matter who enters the race.”

As of Monday morning, no new official candidate filings for Dudley had been uploaded on the state’s online database. State records show that Kotek’s campaign has around $2.6 million in the bank, while Drazan has more than $1.1 million and Bethell has more than $50,000. Diehl has more than $36,000. 

Two of the GOP candidates, Bethell and Diehl, are set to speak at an upcoming Saturday forum in Portland, held by the Tigard-based Western Liberty Network. The group has said it invited Kotek, Drazan and Dudley to speak as well. A spokesperson for Drazan’s campaign said she has a prior commitment and will not be in attendance.