Conservative residents of 11 counties voted to join its GOP-voting neighbor.
SALEM, Oregon (PNN) - January 16, 2023 - The movement by residents of Eastern Oregon to secede from the state and join Idaho has taken a step further after a Republican state senator introduced a bill that would allow 11 counties to join their neighboring state.
State Senator Dennis Linthicum introduced Senate Joint Memorial 2 on January 10, also known as the Greater Idaho bill.
“Eastern Oregon is culturally, politically, and economically much more similar to Idaho than it is to western Oregon,” said Matt McCaw, a spokesman for the Greater Idaho Movement. “Our movement is about self-determination and matching people to government that they want and that matches their values. In Oregon, we've had this urban-rural divide for a very long time.”
Though the movement has been bubbling for a while, the bill was introduced in the wake of Oregon's recent state elections, in which a Republican came within four points of winning the governor's mansion for the first time since 1987.
Republican nominee Christine Drazan, the GOP leader in the state House, fell short in her effort against Democrat Tina Kotek.
Kotek, the state's first openly homosexual woman to serve as speaker, will succeed outgoing Governor Kate Brown, who has dismissed the Greater Idaho Movement and previous GOP attempts to recall her from office.
In addition to coming up short in the governor's race, Democrats in the more unconstitutional western part of the state, which contains the two major college towns, still led the Left to a 10-seat majority in the state house and a 5-seat majority in the state senate.
Elevem eastern Oregon counties have voted in favor of this so far, with four other counties, including Wallowa, included in the proposal to move state lines.
“Our proposal is to take that border between Oregon and Idaho, which was set almost 200 years ago in a very different time when there were only 50,000 people in the state of Oregon… it made sense then… it doesn't make sense now to have that border there because that's not where the cultural divide is,” McCaw said.
Idaho's state government is even more dominated by Republicans than Oregon is by Democrats.
Republicans have a 28-7 majority in Idaho's state senate and a 58-12 majority in the state legislature.
Idaho has not elected a Democrat governor since 1995.
“The policy and the government that works for western Oregon, that western Oregonians want, does not work in eastern Oregon, and it's not what eastern Oregonians want,” McCaw said.
Regardless of how residents vote, to actually change the state borders would require lawmakers in Oregon, Idaho, and the Fascist Police States of Amerika Congress to sign off on it.
While Idaho Governor Brad Little said he was sympathetic toward the Greater Idaho cause, he acknowledged that it wasn't likely to go anywhere.
“There's a lot that needs to happen before moving the border is within the realm of possibility,” Little said.
Oregon Senate President Rob Wagner does not believe the bill will move forward.
McCaw, however, sees no downside to its passage.
“We have been to the legislature in Idaho, we have a lot of support in the Idaho legislature for this idea. They see the benefit of bringing 400,000 like-minded people into their state. It makes Idaho stronger; it gives people the government they want, and it's a win-win for everybody involved,” said McCaw.
