Five Oregon Counties Vote to Secede and Join Idaho

Greater Idaho

4:26

Five rural Oregon counties voted on Tuesday to secede from the state of Oregon and join the state of Idaho.

The Idaho Statesman reported:

Thousands of people in eastern Oregon voted Tuesday for their elected officials to consider ditching their state and becoming part of Idaho.

Voters in Sherman, Lake, Grant, Baker and Malheur counties all voted for ballot measures that would lead to them becoming Idahoans. People in Union and Jefferson counties had already voted in favor during the November election. . .

The vote is only the first step of the “Greater Idaho” project, which would allow some Oregon counties to join a state that advocates say more closely aligns with their political preferences.

Breitbart News reported in April that a political action committee and a new 501 c 4 non profit group are driving efforts that will allow rural counties in Oregon to join Idaho:






https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/19/five-oregon-counties-vote-to-secede-and-join-idaho/





Im a big fan of this movement. The rural counties of Oregon have many grievances against the Salem-Eugene-Portland-Astoria region. The move would ultimately be to the benefit of all Oregon and Idaho residents.

 

I like this! I’m a big fan of the State of Jefferson. Creating a separate state is much harder than the Greater Idaho effort. Greater Idaho wouldn’t change the senate nor the house. Notice that the effort extends south into California, with five counties Siskiyou, Modoc, Shasta, Lassen, Tehama, total population 350,000. Both Oregon and California subsidize these regions and that would end. California is going to lose a congressional district and by dumping the five most red counties they can protect the democrats in the house and state legislature. Oregon is going to gain a district and it’s going to be a Republican one since the state was already gerrymandered with only one GOP House seat. The remaining Oregon could keep all of their democrats. I would love to live in Idaho without moving.

 

It won't pass. It needs to be approved by both the State Legislature (of both Oregon and Idaho) and Congress. Article 4 Section 3 Paragraph 1:

I've highlighted the relevant part. Do you really think that Oregon's legislature is going to accept losing so much territory/resources? No way in hell would it. And on a political side it would actually give Idaho more Reps in the House. No Dem is going to accept that since Idaho is a red state and the counties wanting to do this are red counties. Additionally it would reduce the amount of Reps Oregon would have in the House. And since there is currently a 37-23 Dem majority in Oregon's House and 18-11 Dem majority in Oregon's Senate there is no way this is going to fly.

The only way it would pass on a federal level is if Repubs held a majority in the House and Senate and hold the WH. A possibility to be sure. But right now they don't have that.

I'm sure Idaho would like it though. We would no longer be land locked which would be a huge boost to Idaho's import/export possibilities. It would also give us more of a say in National Politics instead of being a fly over state.

But in the end reality shows that it simply will not get past Oregon's State Legislature.

 

Not sure why you think it wouldn't change at least the House. We actually would gain at least one Rep in the House and Oregon would lose at least one. ESPECIALLY if we somehow managed to grab those counties in California. Which frankly is less of a chance than Oregon. And that is saying a lot.

 

This is similar to the Democrats wanting DC statehood. If one state does it then every state will do it and thus lead to corruption by both sides to get more house seats.

It will also make any state very hard to be a swing state leading to the same election outcome every time.

Oregon is run by far left radicals and I would hate having them for leadership but I'm still against this.

 

I am an Oregonian living near Salem. I would be inclined to vote 'yes'. on a referendum and let them go.

 

It wouldn’t change the house at all. Like I said, Oregon’s going to gain a seat and Ca is going to lose one. One Oregon district is red and no amount of gerrymandering can limit the GOP to only one after the other is added. All of the existing democrat districts would fit into the population of the remaining Oregon. Leaving Oregon and far north California would have two GOP seats to add to Idaho. Urban Oregon would no longer have to subsidize these areas. California is going to lose a seat. By giving up those 5 counties and less than 1% of its population, it guts the 1st district and protects the democrat incumbents and cuts subsidies for them as well. The five lightly populated NorCal counties Siskiyou 43,500, Modoc 8,900, Lassen 30,500, Shasta 180,800, Tehama 67,200 would not be missed by California. Most Californians no nothing about the state north of Sacramento.

 

Video
“An effort to move nearly two dozen of Oregon’s most rural counties into the more conservative neighboring state of Idaho has gained momentum – with five counties voting this week in favor of having local officials consider the issue, according to reports.

The bid has been spearheaded by the Citizens of Greater Idaho, which wants to relocate between 18 and 22 Oregon counties to Idaho, according to FOX 12 in Portland.

On Tuesday, Sherman, Lake, Grant, Baker and Malheur counties joined two others who voted in November in favor of discussing the issue.

"The Oregon/Idaho border was established 161 years ago and is now outdated," Citizens for Greater Idaho says on its website. "It makes no sense in its current location because it doesn’t match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon.

The group says it also welcomes parts of southeastern Washington and northeastern California, which also tend to be more conservative than the rest of both of those left-leaning states, to join them….



read more: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rural-oregon-counties-vote-to-consider-joining-idaho

 

So, rather than simply moving to Idaho, these people want Idaho to move to them...?

Seems awfully lazy to me....

 

Only votes that increase democrats power are allowed. All others are prohibited.

 

Yes it would change the House. Idaho actually almost had a chance to gain a house seat with the 2020 census. Fell short about 60k. Oregon gained 1. If Greater Idaho becomes a reality it would definitely mean that Oregon would lose a seat and Idaho would gain.

LINK: As Idaho grows, congressional representation is on the line | Idaho Statesman

 

Technically the vote is to OK meetings to discuss a proposition of secession. So no one is seceding anytime soon.
And this is so dead in the water, it's seems about as useful as when people breathlessly say "obama/trump/biden to be impeached!!" just because a lone congressman has suggested a vote to impeach.
Of course th big problem in the US is that the states are so very unfairly divided up in the first place that no amount of gerymandering states to ones liking will ever pass, because no one is going to give up power. And as teh above poster points out, just losing population, even if it's a small amount can have great repercussions. NY state lost a congressman due to being 89 people short of the threshold (out of a population of 19 millions!!)
So it's a no go.
Combining North and South Dakota would be fairer in my mind (they have similar views and yet get total over representation) or dividing up California in to 3 to 5 states. etc...
So I don't see why this proposal should get anymore credence than mine.
The US is completely unfairly split up as it is. Nothing short of an overhaul or at the very minimum having states split their EC votes would get us closer to fairness or representation. Just think of the millions of california republicans or texas democrats who have almost no voice.

 

Whatever happened to the great state of Jefferson, and what's this Israel that I've been hearing about all week in the news, has someone been messing with my time machine again?

 

True that Oregon would lose one plus the new one from California and Idaho would gain two but those are both are presently GOP seats and they would remain so. The partisan make up of theHouse would be unchanged. It’s just that my Congress person would be R-Id instead of R-Ca.

 

Well we were trying to form a whole new 51st state but Greater Idaho is a great idea too.

 

I would like to see it happen.

 

So the “patriots” don't like America unless it’s THEIR America....OK, got it....

 

Do the people in these places currently not have representation? If not how is this similar to DC?

 

Insanity on steroids. When people think another state has better options, they move. They move themselves, not the borders.

What happens when Greater Idaho becomes "unlivable?" Become part of Montana? What if there are no acceptable contiguous states? Should California join with NY and create liberal utopia?

It's a ridiculous idea for people who choose to run rather than fight for change within their current state.

You like Idaho? Move to Boise.

 

Well, the map provides ocean access to the new idaho. That would be a big deal.

 

Really? Culture has borders? What nonsense. States have been drawn out by "cultural divide?" When did this happen? Tell me, what power does Idaho have over culture that California doesn't? If two million SF liberals move to Boise, what you gonna do? Kick them out? Redraw the state lines? Again? What ridiculous childish nonsense.

 

Obviously, it won't pass.

Obviously, it is going NOWHERE.

And, just as obviously, your in-depth analysis was spot-on and gave this riduculous idea more serious thought than it deseved.

Obviously, it is a complete non-starter.

It has as much of a chance of actually become reality than a frozen snowball in hell.

Now if one is going to talk about completelty UNREALISTIC Ideas that Have ZERO chance of happening, there are much more interesting topics than a few misguided counties in Oregon.

For example:

I like this! I’m a big fan of movng Margot Robbie into my Guestroom.

I like this! I’m a big fan of winning the Billion Dollar Powerball.

Anyway, you are (obviously) 100% Correct.
This Utterly Ridiculous Idea is going Exactly NOWHERE.

 

The cultural divide is a country divide. No one wants to pay higher taxes for these 'universal programs' that help a few, but not the all. It is the slight unspoken political cannonball of our times. And it's a cannonball that's active particularly in our Western-Pacific states like California and Oregon.

 

The cultural divide surely exists, but it exists everywhere, not bounded by state lines, city limits or even the walls in a house.

If the reasoning were taxes, regulations, education, other things which are within the power of state government, then that would make sense. Redrawing state lines because you don't like SF liberal culture is ridiculous.

Culture is the sum total of choices made by individuals. In a free society, the state is powerless with regard to popular culture. Sounds like control freak on nitro. "My neighbor is a liberal, but the whole block is conservative. Let's join Idaho." Dumb. Cowardly. Childish.