Oregon Sen. Jeff Golden (D) announced Monday that he will run for another term representing Southern Jackson County, saying he feels obligated to continue “doing what I can do” during what he describes as the most unsettled and threatening period in his five decades as an Oregonian.
December 1, 2025
A DECISION TO RUN
For most of my life I’ve been energized by a Helen Keller quotation that I ran across in college: “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something…I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” That inspired the phrase I used to close every television and talk radio episode I hosted over the years: Do what you can do.
Years of urging that principle on others gives me a responsibility to follow it myself. What I can do at this pivotal historic moment, the most unsettled and threatening in my 50 years as an Oregonian, is represent Southern Jackson County with boldness and integrity for one more term in the Oregon Senate. Over the coming months I’ll be asking the people of Senate District 3 for that privilege.
We are facing the end of a shocking year. President Trump’s second term has been a steady flow of attacks on the well-being of Oregonians. The food security of economically struggling Oregonians was first undercut last Spring, when the federal government slashed support for community food banks (just as the details of H.R. 1, which preserves enormous tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, were being finalized). We felt a second blow last month, when the White House sought to prevent SNAP food benefits from being restored.
Thousands of District 3 residents are facing the loss of basic access to health care because of the President’s attack on the provisions of both Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
The economically irrational attack on the renewable energy industry, including arbitrary cancellation of confirmed contracts and grants, is stopping living-wage job growth in its tracks, particularly in rural counties.
Higher education in Oregon (as elsewhere) is threatened with crippling budget cuts if schools don’t scrape classroom material clean of anything the White House deems to be critical of our country’s history or expressly supportive of minority rights.
The President routinely condemns what he calls “war-ravaged” Portland and consistently threatens military occupation. Each day brings more reports of unjustified, arguably unconstitutional harassment of brown Oregonians. More and more of them are too frightened to leave their homes.
AdvertisementsIn the face of this assault, and the failure of Congress to enforce the balance of power clearly mandated by the Constitution, state legislatures have begun stepping up as a critical line of defense, both on their own and in emerging coalitions. Fleshing out the details of this new role will be central to our work in the next two sessions. And we can expect no help from Republican legislators. They have steadfastly refused to challenge or even question the Trump Administration’s attack, even as their most vulnerable constituents are pushed to the brink of ruin. And based on early public comments, there is no indication that a Republican candidate for this Senate seat would break with his party to protect our state. Retiring in the midst of this ongoing threat would be the exact opposite of doing what I can do.
In addition, we have unfinished business on the table in Salem that has nothing to do with the Trump Administration. As Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire, I’ll be pushing to expand programs to help property owners reduce wildfire risk and access adequate, affordable insurance. I’ll also fight for permanent funding for the Oregon Conservation Corps, which we created with Senate Bill 762 in 2021. The OCC is our phenomenally successful Youth in the Woods program.
As a member of the Energy and Environment Committee, I’ll focus on programs that can make communities less reliant on the dominant energy corporations (especially during wildfires and other emergencies) and rein back utility increases.
As a member of the Senate Rules Committee, I’ll continue to push for changes that fortify citizen engagement and reduce citizen mistrust in government, which makes our problems much harder to solve. One important example is reforming Oregon’s primary system so that non-affiliated voters can vote for candidates they support, so that their voices count as much as those of Republicans and Democrats.
And as one of many Senators opposing the Trump Administration’s tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans, I’ll be working for tax reform designed to lighten the load on Oregon working families that are barely scraping by.
I’ll have more to say to District 3 residents on all of this at senatorjeffgolden.com, which at the moment just has a short welcome page.
I’m also available for more specific conversations on these or other issues, as you’d like. In the meantime, happy holidays and….do what you can do.
About the Author
