The 2018 Oregon gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the governor of Oregon to serve a full four-year term. In the 2016 special election, Democratic Governor Kate Brown had been elected to serve the last two years of John Kitzhaber's term.
The Republican Party nominated Knute Buehler, her opponent in the 2012 Oregon secretary of state election; the Independent Party of Oregon nominated Patrick Starnes. Brown, running for a full term, won the election; because of term limits, she became ineligible to seek the governorship again.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Declared
- Kate Brown, incumbent governor
- Ed Jones
- Candace Neville
Endorsements
Kate Brown
Republican primary
Candidates
Declared
- Keenan Bohach
- Knute Buehler, orthopedic surgeon, state representative and nominee for secretary of state in 2012
- Sam Carpenter, businessman and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and 2016
- Jonathan Edwards III
- Brett Hyland
- Jeff Smith, small business owner
- David Stauffer
- Jack Tracy
- Greg Wooldridge, former Blue Angels commanding officer
Withdrew
- Bruce Cuff, real estate broker and candidate for governor in 2014 and 2016 (endorsed Greg Wooldridge)
Declined
- Lori Chavez-DeRemer, mayor of Happy Valley and nominee for the state house in 2016
- Cedric Ross Hayden, state representative
- Mike McLane, House minority leader
- Bud Pierce, physician and nominee for governor in 2016
- Bill Post, state representative
- Dennis Richardson, Oregon secretary of state, former state representative and nominee for governor in 2014
Endorsements
Knute Buehler
- Gordon H. Smith, former U.S. senator (R-OR)
- Greg Barreto, state representative
- Cliff Bentz, state senator
- Daniel Bonham, state representative
- Sal Esquivel, state representative
- Lynn Findley, state representative
- Bill Hansell, state senator
- Dallas Heard, state representative
- Mike McLane, state representative
- Ron Noble, state representative
- Andy Olson, state representative
- E. Werner Reschke, state representative
- Gene Whisnant, state representative
- Rob Harris, co-chair of the Independent Party of Oregon
- Antoinette Hatfield, former first lady of Oregon
- Phil Knight, businessman, co-founder of Nike
- National Federation of Independent Business
- Oregon Cattlemen's Association
- Oregon Farm Bureau
- Blue Mountain Eagle
- The Bulletin
- Corvallis Gazette-Times
- The Daily Astorian
- East Oregonian
- The Oregonian
- Portland Tribune
- The Register-Guard
- Willamette Week
Independent Party primary
Candidates
Declared
- Skye Allen
- Dan Pistoresi
- Patrick Starnes
General election
Debates
- Complete video of debate, October 2, 2018
- Third party debate, featuring Nick Chen (L), Patrick Starnes (I), and Chris Henry (P), hosted by former Green Party candidate Alex DiBlasi, October 6, 2018
- Complete video of debate, October 9, 2018
Polling
%support010203040509/28/20177/17/20189/23/201810/30/2018Kate BrownKnute BuehlerPatrick StarnesOther/UndecidedOpinion polling for the 2018 Oregon gubernat...
Aggregate polls
Results
By congressional district
Brown carried two out of the state's five congressional districts, losing two swing districts that simultaneously voted for Democrats in the US House.