Oregon Republican Knute Buehler, who said in October he was considering running for retiring U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s seat in Congress, declared Tuesday that he has officially entered the race.

Buehler, a surgeon and former two-term lawmaker from Bend, won the Republican nomination for governor in 2018, only to lose badly to incumbent Democratic incumbent Kate Brown.

In the wake of Walden’s announcement that he will step down in 2020, two other Republicans who’ve also served in the Oregon Legislature have already filed to run for his seat: Sen. Cliff Bentz of Ontario and former Sen. Jason Atkinson of Central Point.

Republicans hold an 8 percentage point voter registration edge over Democrats in the sprawling 2nd District, which covers the eastern two-thirds of Oregon and includes Bend and Redmond, Medford, Grant’s Pass, Hermiston, Pendleton, Klamath Falls, the Dalles and Hood River. Although Hillary Clinton won the majority of the popular vote in Oregon in November 2016, Hood River County is the only portion of the 2nd Congressional District that voted for Clinton over Trump.

Nevertheless, three Democrats have filed to run for the seat, including Raz Mason, executive director of CO2 Foundation, a climate change and extreme weather education organization. Three lesser-known Republicans also have filed to run.

Bentz has considerable name recognition in many parts of the district, having been elected to the state Senate by voters in nine counties in 2018.

In a statement made as part of Tuesday’s announcement, Buehler said “Oregon’s rural urban divide isn’t an immovable feature of the natural landscape. It is an artificial divide created by politicians each day in Salem, Portland and Washington, D.C. In Congress, I will never stop fighting for Oregon’s traditional jobs in farming, ranching and timber. I will work for limited government, secure borders and stand firm against government takeover of health care."

Buehler is fiscally conservative but on social issues, he is much more moderate than Walden. He is pro-choice and a champion of gay marriage. In his first session as a lawmaker, he was the primary sponsor of a proposal, which became law, that allows women in Oregon to buy oral contraception over the counter without a doctor’s prescription.

-- Betsy Hammond; @OregonianPol; betsyhammond@oregonian.com