Oregon County Urges ‘Legislative Action’ On Joining Idaho

In Crook County, Oregon, ranches lie scattered across the high desert. Many locals drive large pickups, and some still ride horses. It is rare to find what many Americans consider the “typical Oregonian” – the Millennial leftist driving a small car, demanding others “coexist.”

This kind of difference led Crook County to pass a measure in May to “represent that its citizens support efforts to move the Idaho state border to include Crook County.” 

The Crook County commissioners sent a letter to state legislators Aug. 7, reportedly requesting “legislative action” and asking them to advance talks with Idaho about the issue.

“[O]ur citizens encourage continued discussions with our Idahoan neighbors regarding the possibility of a westward relocation of the Oregon-Idaho border,” the commissioners wrote, “potentially resulting in all or a portion of the territory of Crook County, Oregon becoming a part of the State of Idaho.”

The commissioners addressed the letter to Eastern Oregon Republicans state Sen. Lynn Findley and state Rep. Vikki Breese Iverson. Last year, Iverson met with leaders of the Greater Idaho movement and Idaho legislators about the issue.

The Greater Idaho movement — which, according to the group’s website began “putting votes to counties in 2020” to help conservative Eastern Oregon join Idaho — approached Crook County early in 2020, according to the letter.

“The County has watched what began as a small initiative petition grow into a burgeoning grassroots movement with support across much of the State,” the commissioners wrote in the letter.

This is just a microcosm of the larger state of Oregon. The state west of the Cascade Mountains is known for leftist policies that cultivate drug abuse, crime, and homelessness. But the state on the other side of the mountains offers a more rural lifestyle with more conservative residents.

In total, 13 Eastern Oregon counties have passed similar resolutions, according to Greater Idaho’s website. The group has been working to build local support for the movement. To move the border, the legislatures of both Oregon and Idaho would have to agree, and Congress would have to approve the action.

The Federalist reached out to Findley and Iverson, but they did not reply with comment in time for publication.

Drawing the Line

The leftist-dominated state legislature fails to represent the more conservative residents of Eastern Oregon, Matt McCaw, leader of the Greater Idaho movement, told The Federalist. 

McCaw and his team aim to help rural Oregonians join neighboring Idaho to fix what he calls the “mismatch” between East and West Oregon.

“The way of life out here is much more traditional, much more conservative, much more religious than it is on the west side of the state. It’s not a good match,” McCaw said. “We don’t want to take anything from anybody, we don’t want to force anything on anybody else. But we feel like we’d be better off in this other state. We want to peaceably leave.”

The Greater Idaho movement has proposed a new Oregon-Idaho border just east of the Cascades. It would exclude Bend, the largest and most leftist city in the region.

“Bend is like a little Portland, it’s very left-leaning. And it’s kind of an urban city,” McCaw said. “It’s the only urban city out here in Eastern Oregon.”

Deschutes County has been grappling with homelessness, much of which lies in deep-blue Bend, as The Federalist previously reported. Homeless camps have popped up in desert juniper forests throughout the region, bringing drugs, fires, and violent crime.

Much of Deschutes County outside of Bend still runs conservative, so McCaw proposed splitting the county with the new border.

“A countywide vote doesn’t make a lot of sense for Deschutes County, because it’s really a microcosm of the whole problem in the state of Oregon,” McCaw said. “Our map is just a proposal.”

In the state’s 2022 governor election, Democrat Tina Kotek won by less than 4 percent, with only seven of Oregon’s 36 counties — all in the west, according to OregonLive. Deschutes County, which includes Bend, voted for Republican Christine Drazan.

“We are this political minority out here in Eastern Oregon where voters are saying, ‘We want to talk about moving the border, we want to explore joining this other state,’” McCaw said. “But the majority in control is refusing to even have the conversation.”

Political Obstacles

Greater Idaho leaders invited Kotek in July to meet about “next steps for the 13 counties in eastern Oregon who have passed measures supporting exploring moving the Oregon/Idaho border,” according to Greater Idaho’s website.

“We’ve been completely ignored by the governor,” McCaw said.

The measure has gained some traction in Idaho, where the state House passed a resolution last year to discuss Greater Idaho with the Oregon legislature, though it did not gain traction in the state Senate, according to McCaw and state Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R- Klamath Falls. McCaw said organizers have faced obstacles advancing the proposal in the Oregon legislature, even among Republicans. 

The Oregon state Senate considered a measure last year requesting “discussion between Oregon and Idaho governments” about relocating the border with Idaho, sponsored by Linthicum. 

“King George only had 13 colonies. Gov. Kotek has 15 counties that are up in arms about not being represented, even though only 13 have passed distinct resolutions,” Linthicum told The Federalist. “There’s a really, really big difference between rural Oregon and metro Oregon.”

Linthicum told The Federalist the bill never made it out of committee because the Democrat supermajority is so powerful. There are 30 state senators total – only four of whom come from Eastern Oregon, including Linthicum, he said. 

“Because we have less population, we’ve only got those unique four senators on that side. That makes sense,” Linthicum said. “But that doesn’t mean necessarily, or automatically, or by default the policies coming from the people on the moist side of the Cascades are correct.”

Even among the few Republican state senators and representatives for Eastern Oregon, McCaw said not all of them are fully supportive.

“We don’t have all those people on board, even though their voters are saying ‘We want this to happen,’” McCaw said. “Our challenge is, we’ve got to get our elected leaders to actually represent us.”

Linthicum is not able to run for reelection, since he participated in last year’s senate Republican walkout to stall the Democratic supermajority from passing far-left abortion, anti-gun, and gender ideology bills, according to OPB. 

But Linthicum is the Republican nominee for secretary of state, and his wife Diane Linthicum — who has served as his former chief of staff — is running to fill his vacant seat uncontested after winning the Republican primary, according to the Oregon Captial Chronicle. He said she is planning to work with Eastern Oregon legislators to advance Greater Idaho.

“I think that’s one of the things she put on her agenda for the upcoming session,” Linthicum said. “She’s a policy expert.”

Rural Oregonians know more about land management than politicians from the West, according to Linthicum.

“Our farmers and ranchers and agricultural enterprises on this side of the state where I happen to live know far more about managing their own land and resources than anybody on the other side,” Linthicum said. “Most of those guys have grown up in the climate fear-mongering that’s been going on for 20 years now. So it’s a real battle.”

McCaw said Greater Idaho would be a “win-win” for all parties involved. He said Idahoans would get close to 400,000 like-minded voters, along with land and resources that put more distance between them and Oregon’s destructive drug policies. 

He said Western Oregon would save more money, as it is wealthier and would not have to send tax dollars across the state, while Eastern Oregonians would join a state representing their interests.

“This is a popular idea out here,” McCaw said. “People in Eastern Oregon are very different from the people in Western Oregon.”

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is originally from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.