Several counties in the state of Oregon are now planning to leave the state and become part of Idaho.
These people are tired of the radical left-wing politics of Portland and are tired of being ignored by the leadership of the state. This is a stain on Governor Kate Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
“We want out from underneath Oregon’s governance and go underneath Idaho’s governance, which we tend to match up better with, as far as our values go,” the group’s president, Mike McCarter, told Insider. “Now for 20 years-plus we’ve been trying to change the makeup and improve the makeup of the Oregon Legislature, but when you haven’t got the vote, there’s not much you can do about it.”
The ballot measures in the counties called on county officials to consider the move. Last week, five counties voted in favor of the effort, bringing the total to seven.
Leaders of the movement told Insider that it started at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after Oregon’s GOP attempted to recall Gov. Kate Brown.
7 rural counties in Oregon have voted in favor of an effort to become part of Idaho.
Leaders of the Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to transfer more than 70% of Oregon’s land to Idaho, say Oregon’s Legislature doesn’t represent rural residents. ⬇️
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“We’ve had two legislative sessions in our state Capitol where Republicans walked out and denied votes because for these rural communities that were their last-ditch effort to make sure their livelihoods were protected. So this was the natural solution to all those and learning from all those other experiences,” Keaton Ems, a spokesman for the group, told Insider.
Ems said that he was hoping the group’s goals could be met in the next four to six years but that they were taking small steps alongside the legislative sessions to push the effort along.
McCarter told Insider the proposed new border would encompass 18 full and three partial Oregon counties and account for about 860,000 people in Oregon.
While that would be only about 21% of the state’s population, it would represent 70% of its land — McCarter said that figure highlighted how centralized the state’s government is.
“You add those rural counties and that area to Idaho’s current area, it would make Idaho the third-largest state in the union after Alaska and Texas,” McCarter said.
Changing the border would require the approval of Oregon’s and Idaho’s legislatures and the US Congress, but McCarter said he saw no reason why it wouldn’t go through.
According to McCarter, in the seven counties that had voted in favour of the effort, support ranged from 54% to 74%, but two counties have so far voted against it.
Sources: The Gateway Pundit, Business Insider