Two Republican candidates for governor — Bud Pierce and Allen Alley — are facing off in the May primary.

Five names will actually appear on the ballot for Republican voters, but the race will undoubtedly come down to Pierce and Alley, who have both the funding and wherewithal to win the nomination.

It’s a solid 1-2 punch for a party that hasn’t held the governor’s office since 1987. (Incidentally, Republican governors led the state for 42 of the 48 years before this recent 30-year drought.)

But only one can survive to take on Kate Brown in November, and Republican voters should consider the general election when voting in the May primary.

If Oregon is to avoid the one-party rule that has plagued other states, Republicans need to prove they can win every once in a while.

Which potential Republican nominee has the best chance this time around? We’ve spoken to both, and are impressed with both.

Pierce is the kind of Republican we’d have supported in the last few elections, when the GOP let social issues derail campaigns.

He doesn’t have time for that kind of nonsense. He is a successful doctor and private sector businessperson, with reasonable solutions to making state government more efficient and customer friendly. He has taken a keen eye to rural issues and has pounded the pavement (and the wheat fields and the forests and the deserts) of Eastern Oregon to secure support and raise money. He may lack in pizazz, but he’s a well-informed outsider with a reasonable approach to the big state issues that Democrats have been unable to tackle — PERS, a statewide transportation package, Columbia River Crossing and rural economic struggles.

Perhaps his nice-guy image carries with it some naiveté. And if Republicans can somehow claim the governor’s mansion — they sure want someone who can swing some elbows, cut some bloated departments and shake up Salem. It’s difficult to picture Pierce in that role.

Alley is similar to Pierce in many regards, but he may have more political polish and the hard edge needed to step into what would be a difficult situation.

He is a latecomer to the campaign and this election cycle has not reached out to Eastern Oregon as much as he said he would like to. But you can bet if he survives in May, he’ll be drumming up votes in the reliably red side of the state.

He, too, has stayed away from the unpopular issues that have tripped up predecessors, most notably Dennis Richardson who was in a seemingly winnable race with John Kitzhaber just two years ago.

Alley told the editorial board this week that he watched the Kitzhaber debacle and resignation from afar and saw the state needed a change in party, a change in culture and a change in leadership.

He spoke mostly about Oregon’s poor education system — near the bottom for K-12 graduation rates despite a recent overhaul of the entire system — and the quickly rising costs of a college degree. He’s got ways to fix it, and doesn’t believe another dump truck of dollars is the answer.

Perhaps it will not matter which Republican wins in May.

Perhaps Gov. Brown is untouchable in November — especially in a liberal state where Donald Trump may be on the ballot. Trump will cause 7 in 10 Oregonians to vote against him, and any Republican candidate is going to have to win back at least some of the anti-Trump anger.

For Oregon’s sake, we hope Republicans are able to claim statewide office soon. The first step to doing so is fielding quality candidates like Bud Pierce and Allen Alley and letting the best candidate advance into the second round.