Oregon counties vote to secede, join Idaho

Photo Source: Supporters of President Donald Trump attend a rally at the Oregon Capitol protesting the outcome of the election on November 14 in Salem, Oregon. (AP Photo/Paula Bronstein via Business Insider)

Last week five more Oregon counties passed a measure to begin the process of discussing how to secede and become part of Idaho instead. Malheur, Sherman, Grant, Baker, and Lake counties joined Jefferson and Union which approved a similar motion last year. A total of seven counties make up the rural parts of Oregon which residents claim are more conducive to Idaho politics than the liberal-leaning Oregon state.

In the 2020 Presidential Election, Oregon’s population voted for President Biden over President Trump by a 56 to 40 percent lead. Those five counties, however, voted anywhere between 69 percent and 79 percent for President Trump. In Idaho, the populace voted 63.9 percent for President Trump and just 33.1 percent for President Biden, making the state a more appealing political climate for the seven counties.

Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho is only one phase of Greater Idaho’s grand proposal to redraw state lines to bring more like-minded counties into the state. In their Manifest Destiny-like proposal, the group wishes to expand Idaho to the Pacific Ocean to include conservative-leaning counties of Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. All the counties they have outlined in their expanded state have historically voted for Republican candidates, and all voted for President Trump in the 2020 Presidential election.

The campaign claimed in its 41-page proposal that the idea is “different from secession because it is simply a shift in borders that does not affect the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.” While in the Senate, the number of Senators would not change, it would impact the number of Representatives “Greater Idaho” would have in the House as well as significantly impact the number of electoral college votes for future presidential elections. The change in state lines would more than double Idaho’s size and increase its population by 49 percent.

Photo Source: A map showing the proposed border of "Greater Idaho" (Move Oregon’s Border For a Greater Idaho) Idaho would be the third-largest state in the country and would take 76 percent of the land area of Oregon, along with 21 percent of its population. The group claims that “Northwestern Oregon is embarking on social experiments… that rural counties want no part of.” Additionally, they justify the proposal as rescuing “Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon [that] have normal American cultures and values” synonymous with Idaho’s.

To change the state borders, the Oregon legislature would have to also approve the move, and then a formal deal would have to be made between the two states to then be ratified by the U.S. Congress. Idaho’s Governor Brad Little has supported the expansion in the past.

In August 2020, Governor Little almost faced a recall vote on the November 2020 ballot. The campaign calling for his recall failed to collect enough signatures but attacked the governor for his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group claimed they were “the ladies of Idaho who could not sit quietly while their liberties were stripped away under the guise of public safety.”

Idaho’s next gubernatorial election will be in 2022. A few potential candidates have already announced they will challenge the current governor. Among the challengers is Ammon Bundy, who was arrested, but later acquitted, for occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for 41 days in 2016.