(Update: adding Buehler video, Phil Henderson comments)
“I just could not stand it anymore,” said the former state representative.
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Former state representative and GOP government candidate Knute Buehler of Bend explained to NewsChannel 21 on Tuesday why he is among the more than 6,000 Republicans in Oregon who left the party last month and 11,000 since the November election.
“The events of January were deeply disturbing to me, beginning with President Trump’s interrogation of the election, and many times Republican elected officials are trying to change the election results,” he said. “And then the encouragement of the assault on the Capitol.”
‘The last straw was really the resolution of the Oregon Republican State Committee, which claims that a conspiracy theory – a made-up conspiracy theory – about this’ false flag’ operation, and that the far left was really responsible for the attack on the Capitol, “Buehler added.
“I just couldn’t stand it anymore,” he said. “It just’s not responsible. And if it’s those kinds of decisions, I no longer know what a Republican really means.”
Buehler, like many of those who changed their registration, moved to the ranks of non-affiliated voters, which have risen by more than 10,000 nationwide since the election. Democratic ranks have also fallen by nearly 8,500 since the election.
The former state representative, who by some critics has long been a moderate and a RINO (Republican by name only), said he had closed his involvement in politics.
“I have never seen politics as a career,” he said. “I’m an orthopedic surgeon by training. I saw my political involvement as a service. After six years, that service was done. I think it’s long enough.
“But I would like to help other worthy candidates who really want to solve big problems for real people. It does not matter to me whether they are Republican candidates, independent or non-aligned candidates, or even Democratic candidates, if they are really interested in real solve problems. ‘
“Of course, they must be true to the principles I believe in: freedom, the rule of law, the defense of the Constitution, providing opportunities for people.”
“I do not believe in blind loyalty to any party or anyone, not even president,” he said. ‘I said this from the beginning of my political involvement. I am true to my principles. … Nothing has changed. ‘
“In an old saying of Ronald Reagan, ‘I did not leave the party, but the party left me,'” Buehler said. “I no longer know what it means to be a Republican, certainly in this state.”
“I feel that both parties have not ruled well over the past two decades,” Buehler said. “There are drastic changes in our country and it has knocked many people off their feet, and we need to pay attention.
“I think this is something that President Trump has acknowledged,” he said. “Unfortunately, his leadership style and his approach just could not help those people. And I think that’s why we are seeing so much disagreement now.”
NewsChannel 21 also reached out to Deschutes County Commissioner and Republican President Phil Henderson on Tuesday about recent changes in voter registration.
“It looks like a lot of people might be leaving the party in the Portland area – Washington County and a few other places,” he said. I do not think this has been a trend in Deschutes County so far.
“But to the extent that people do change after the election of a party,” Henderson said. “I think people were disappointed because they did not win. People were disappointed with the way the campaign went. I think it was a very erratic political year.”