ISLAND CITY — Nick Hess was frustrated.

The Tigard businessman couldn’t find an Oregon gubernatorial candidate who represented his ideas and viewpoints — so the Republican gave up his search and launched his own campaign for governor.

Hess is focusing on bridging the political divide between Democrats and Republicans in Oregon.

“I stand for bringing people together. We still are all Oregonians at the end of the day,” Hess said on Thursday, Jan. 13, following a presentation in Island City to the Union County Republican Central Committee.

Hess, 35, said many candidates are not interested in reducing the schism that exists between Democrats and Republicans. He said this divide must be bridged before a Republican will ever be elected governor.

Only 26% of Oregon’s registered voters are Republicans, according to Hess, which means that there are not enough Republicans in Oregon to elect a governor with their support alone.

“To have any chance of winning we have to build a bridge,” he said. “It is all about bringing people together.”

Hess, who owns a company that provides cybersecurity services, said reaching out to all voters ties in with the philosophy he has as a businessman.

“I look upon everybody as a potential customer,” he said.

Hess is one of more than a dozen candidates seeking to succeed Gov. Kate Brown, who because of term limits cannot seek reelection.

He said that as governor he would push for smaller government and the deregulation of businesses. The push for deregulation would also extend into health care. Hess said one of the reasons COVID-19 has hit Oregon as hard as it has is that its hospitals do not have the number of beds they sometimes need for patients. He said that deregulating hospitals would allow them to take in more patients who need care.

Hess also said Oregon’s homeless issue is another concern of his. He believes one of the ways of addressing this would be to help them become self-sufficient so they are able to live in permanent housing on their own. He said he knows of one program for the homeless in which 60% of the people assisted over a 18-month period are living in permanent housing a year later.

The candidate said the homeless issue needs to be addressed — not only because it is the right thing to do but also to boost how people view the state.

“Homelessness is giving Oregon an image problem,” he said.

Hess said that as governor he would push for transparency throughout state government because “transparency builds trust.”

Hess said that more transparency — in some instances — would help people develop a greater belief in government. He said he is convinced, after doing investigations, that Oregon’s elections are well run, but he can understand why some people suspect voter fraud because it is hard to get information about the state’s electoral system.

Hess had not been born yet, the last time Oregon had a Republican governor. Still he said hopes to invoke the memories of the state’s last three GOP governors if elected.

“I want to bring back the days of Tom McCall, Vic Atiyeh and Mark Hatfield,” he said, “governors who represented all of the people.”