John Kitzhaber

John Kitzhaber (born March 5 1947 is a United States Democratic Party politician from Oregon. He was the president of the state senate of Oregon from 1985 until 1993 and the governor of Oregon from 1995 until 2003. As state senate president he was instrumental in the creation of Oregon's government-funded healthcare plan. He won the Democratic Party nomination for governor in 1994 when the Democratic incumbent, Barbara Roberts withdrew from the race in January of that year when, after voters refused to pass a sales tax to fund the Oregon health plan, she was forced to break her campaign promise not to cut spending. Kitzhaber won the general election with 51% of the vote, defeating the Republican candidate Denny Smith who received 42% of the vote. He won reelection in 1998 with 63% of the vote. His Republican opponent, Bill Sisemore, received 31% of the vote. Kitzhaber did not run for reelection in 2002.