Salem oncologist Bud Pierce surprised the political establishment Tuesday when he captured the Republican nomination for governor in a landslide victory over presumed frontrunner Lake Oswego businessman Allen Alley.

The political newcomer now faces an uphill battle against Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, a seasoned politician who is seeking election to the office she inherited when Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned last year.

In addition to campaigning in a state with a Democratic majority, Pierce, 59, faces an opposing party eager to compare him to New York billionaire Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, Jim Moore, politics professor and director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University.

“People do not know him, nor are they inclined to vote for a Republican,” Moore said. “His centrist appeal will be difficult to sell with Trump at the top of the ticket. He will have to separate himself from the national campaign narrative.”

Brown barely campaigned for the primary yet still won her party’s nomination with 84 percent of early returns, against five mostly unknown opponents. She will remained focused on governing and serving the state but will ramp up her campaign every month leading up to the general election in November, said Liz Accola Meunier, a spokeswoman for Brown’s campaign.

“The governor is really looking forward to talking about her vision for moving the state forward and looking forward to having a chance to talk about her vision, and we believe when voters get a chance to compare her to her opponent that they will choose her,” Meunier said.

With experience in state government and as a candidate for statewide office, Alley, 61, was the presumed frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination.

But Pierce’s campaign against Alley showed that higher spending in both money and time can pay dividends with the electorate. Pierce filed for election six months earlier than Alley, invested more than $1 million of his own money into his campaign and traveled around the state to achieve name recognition that he lacked when he first entered the race.

Pierce anticipates he will need $8 million to $10 million to run an adequate campaign against Brown.

“The reason I am running is a lot of us feel the current state leadership is failing us,” Pierce said. “The current state leadership is highly experienced. The issue isn’t experience. The issue is the governor really a motivator and a leader?”

Democrat Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and former Republican state Rep. Dennis Richardson will face each other in the November general election for secretary of state.

“Richardson is running on a platform that Democrats are corrupt; Avakian is running on a platform that the job ought to include a lot of duties that are not part of the official role of the secretary of state,” Moore said.

“Both are damaged: Richardson because of his poor run against Kitzhaber (for governor in 2014), and Avakian because of the hard hits he took in the primary. But, until proven otherwise, it is extremely hard for a Republican to win in Oregon,” Moore said.

Avakian prevailed with 39 percent of early returns over Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, who had 33 percent and state Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, with 27 percent.

Richardson, who defeated Lane Commissioner Sid Leiken for the Republican nomination, said Tuesday night that he was ready to campaign against Avakian based on their different views on the role of the secretary of state.

“Brad Avakian wants to investigate and go after private businesses,” Richardson said, referring to Avakian’s plan to have state auditors begin investigating complaints against state contractors. “My opinion is the secretary of state should be rolling out the red carpet to businesses in other states and countries, as well as in Oregon.”

Richardson said the Audits Division in the Secretary of State’s Office is supposed to review state programs in order to “show that the people’s money is well spent and (Avakian’s) approach will be to ignore the waste that is taking place in public departments and programs and go after private businesses.”