About John Kitzhaber
John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician and physician who served as the 35th and 37th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2011 to 2015. In February 2015, shortly after beginning his fourth term, Kitzhaber resigned from office and was replaced by Secretary of State Kate Brown. A member of the Democratic Party, Kitzhaber was the longest-serving governor in the state's history. A physician in Roseburg, Kitzhaber was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1978. After one term, he won an Oregon Senate seat in 1980, serving three terms, until 1993. He was Senate President from 1985 to 1993. In 1994, he was elected governor of Oregon, defeating his Republican opponent Denny Smith. He was reelected by a wide margin in 1998, making him the first Democrat to be reelected as Governor since 1906, and left office in January 2003. In 2010, Kitzhaber ran for governor again and narrowly defeated his Republican opponent Chris Dudley. He was reelected in 2014, to become Oregon's longest serving governor. Kitzhaber resigned from office only a month into his fourth term on February 18, 2015, as state and federal authorities were investigating criminal allegations against him and his fiancée Cylvia Hayes. In 2017, the federal government dropped its investigation against Kitzhaber without filing charges. The Oregon ethics commission found 10 instances when Kitzhaber used his political office for personal gain. He agreed to pay a settlement fine of $20,000. Kitzhaber began his political career in 1978 when he won election to the Oregon House of Representatives, where he served for one term. In 1994, Kitzhaber won the Democratic nomination for governor when the sitting governor, Barbara Roberts (also a Democrat), withdrew from the race in January of that year. Kitzhaber won the general election in November 1994 with 51% of the vote.
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