At a kickoff event for Jason Conger’s campaign for U.S. Senate Tuesday night in Bend, State Sen. Tim Knopp acknowledged it’s been a rough several years for Oregon Republicans.

No Republican has won a statewide race since Gordon Smith’s last successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2002. In 2008, Smith was defeated by Democrat Jeff Merkley, Oregon’s current Senator and Conger’s opponent should he emerge from the four-way Republican primary campaign. But Conger, who won his position in the state House by defeating Democrat Judy Stiegler in 2010 and was re-elected last year, has already shown he can win votes in places not always friendly to Republican candidates.

“Jason is the candidate that can win,” Knopp said.

Conger, 45, acknowledged he was running for Senate late last week, but waited until Tuesday to officially launch his campaign with events in the morning in Oregon City and back home in Bend during the evening.

In a conference room at the Shilo Inn, Conger addressed about 100 supporters, criticizing Merkley as “missing in action” and vowing to fight for and with Oregonians in Washington, D.C.

Because Oregon law does not allow an officeholder to campaign for two positions at the same time, Conger’s entry into the Senate race puts his seat in the Oregon House up for grabs in what could be a competitive race.

Described as a “donut hole” during 2010’s redistricting, House District 54 aligns closely with the borders of Bend, and is surrounded on all sides by the “donut” of House District 53. An island of blue in otherwise red Central and Eastern Oregon, Democrats outnumber Republicans by 5 percentin House District 54, while just over a quarter of voters are members of a minor party or unaffiliated.

House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, said he’s not worried about Democrats having a slight voter-registration edge.

“Registration is what it is, but the people of House District 54 have consistently said they wanted someone smart and reasonable to represent them. … I think Knute Buehler fits that very well, should he choose to run,” McLane said.

Buehler, 49, is a physician and business owner who ran an unsuccessful campaign for Secretary of State last year.

But Democrats have been angling for the seat.

“Reclaiming the seat in House District 54 will put us in an even stronger position to make progress on the issues that really matter to families in Bend and throughout the state,” House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, said in a statement.

Seats like House District 54 are critical for Republicans if they are ever going to regain the majority in the Oregon House, Knopp said. Democrats currently hold a 34-26 edge in the body, and Knopp said outside of Bend, Washington County and the Salem area, there simply aren’t that many seats for which both parties can plausibly compete.

Knopp said he believes Republicans can hold House District 54 in next year’s election, and predicted his party would pick up additional seats in both the state House and Senate. He said Republicans have traditionally done better in off-year elections, when the absence of a presidential race tends to diminish overall turnout.

Regardless of who wins House District 54 next November, Knopp said the region will be well-represented in Salem.

“I think Central Oregon’s priorities will be well-defended,” he said. “We have a great team. Now, we just need to add another member to that team.”

One newcomer on the Democratic ticket could be Craig Wilhelm, a 41-year-old combat veteran, who is contemplating a run for the seat. Wilhelm has never run for office before, but said it’s “important to make the district a place to stay and live and where people come to grow businesses.”

Wilhelm has lived in Bend since 2006, having moved from Germany. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point in 1993 and served 13 years in the U.S. Army. He served tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Albania, among others. Wilhelm said he’s still contemplating a run and figuring out how he would factor in his day job of working in business development for a recycling company with being in the state Legislature.

Stiegler is contemplating a comeback. Stiegler served one term, beating Republican Chuck Burley in 2008 to become the first Democrat to represent Bend in Salem since the mid-1980s.

“I know what goes into a campaign… everything from the door-knocking to the voter contact to the fundraising,” she said. “I have to make sure I’m the right person, at the right time, and I’m ready to go at it again.”

Stiegler, 60, called serving in the Legislature the highlight of her professional career. Before serving in the Legislature, Stiegler was a lawyer specializing in juvenile law. More recently, she’s been teaching political science at Central Oregon Community College. She was attacked by Republicans while campaigning in 2010 for casting votes in favor of raising taxes. But she was praised by many for fighting to ensure Oregon State University-Cascades Campus was not shuttered by the state.

Buehler said if he runs, some of the issues he would campaign on could sound familiar from his Secretary of State race in 2012.

“I think there’s some crossover. … I feel like we need to improve government accountability at the state level; we need election reform, so more people can participate and better vetting of the issues in the Legislature,” he said.

“But there will be things I didn’t talk about in the Secretary of State race,” he said. “We need higher quality K-12 education, continued expansion of OSU-Cascades and more access to higher education in Oregon.”

And, he noted, with the state’s undertaking of overhauling the health care system, it would be helpful to have his expertise in the Legislature.

Buehler has lived in Bend for 16 years, but would have to move to be eligible to run for House District 54.