Campaign for Eastern Oregon to Join Conservative Idaho Gains Traction as Leftist Laws Hurt Citizens

A movement to have eastern Oregon be absorbed by more conservative Idaho is gaining traction as citizens are fed up with progressive laws.

The idea to relocate the border apparently has support from leaders in both states, Fox News reported Monday.

In a recent op-ed, former Oregon House Speaker Mark Simmons shared support for the Greater Idaho Movement, the idea to incorporate approximately 13 Oregon counties inside the borders of Idaho.

An image shows how Idaho would expand if the effort comes to fruition:

Simmons lamented the fact the Oregon government has “marginalized our values and villainized our resource-based livelihoods.”

According to Simmons, the Oregon counties voted 75 percent Republican in 2022, while Idaho voted 67 percent Republican.

Counties should want to become part of Idaho because “Oregon will continue to violate more and more American values and American freedoms because northwestern Oregon has 79% of Oregon’s population and voters,” the movement’s website explained.

“Oregon refuses to protect citizens from criminals, rioters, wildfire arsonists, illegals, and the homeless, but then infringes on your right to defend your family with firearms. Idaho enforces the law,” the site continued, adding another reason was Idaho has a thriving economy.

Adding conservative counties to Idaho would benefit residents because the state would “have the satisfaction of freeing more than 380,000 rural Oregonians from stifling blue-state law, and potentially more if the project spreads to other nearby areas,” the website read.

According to Simmons, Oregon stores offer drugs near Idaho neighborhoods. He also said eastern Idaho voted against legalizing marijuana and decriminalizing hard drugs.

Idaho’s House of Representatives recently passed a resolution not to move the border but to call for formal talks on the issue.

While it is not yet known if the bill will pass the state’s Senate, the chamber is controlled by Republicans.

Last week, Greater Idaho’s Matt McCraw told KGW:

For a very long time, there’s been this urban rural divide, and people on the east side of the state have felt like their state level government has not heard them, has not understood their way of life, their values, their problems, and has enacted policy that doesn’t work for us in eastern Oregon.

Meanwhile, Idaho Rep. Ilana Rubel (D) Legislative District 18, claimed, “I think we’re on a path to civil war if we keep going down this path. We have got to learn to get along better, and work together better.”

However, the movement’s website said state lines have been relocated throughout the nation’s history “because it just takes an interstate compact between two state legislatures and approval of Congress.”

Even though Idaho lawmakers may support the idea, it could face more intense resistance in the Oregon legislature that is controlled by Democrat leaders.

Per the Fox article, “proponents of Greater Idaho note that 11 counties in eastern Oregon have voted for ballot measures to explore the move and that, according to some polling, Idahoans would welcome expanding the state boundary.”

In Oregon, those who back the idea say it may save their state money, while also giving the green light for leaders to govern as liberally as they wish.

KGW viewers recently shared their opinions on the matter, one person telling the outlet, “If they don’t like Oregon, then move to Idaho”:

“They border will never, ever move. End of story,” the person added, then claimed the effort was “ridiculous.”