Happy New Year to all of my friends and enemies across the Beaver State! 2026 brings challenges and opportunities for everyone across Oregon to work together for a brighter future. We will see whether people in power have the guts to govern for the people, or kowtow to dark money special interests 365 days from now.
1) Oregon Republicans, Work Together!
2022 was the best year Oregon Republicans have had in a very long time, with a grand coalition of candidates backed by a talented army of political operatives breaking Democratic supermajorities in Salem, securing the most popular votes for a Republican gubernatorial nominee in state history, and growing the GOP Congressional Delegation for the first time in 20 years with Lori Chavez-DeRemer (who President Trump appointed US Secretary of Labor just two years later!). After a bruising primary, most Oregon Republicans worked together for these historic outcomes, but some of them bitterly stayed home, hampering get out the vote efforts.
First, every Republican candidate running for statewide office needs to visit every county to meet with local Republican committees at least twice, during the primary and during the general. Local conservatives in rural areas will NOT come out to vote for you if you do not meet them on their turf and get to know them. The local party activists who knock on doors and make phone calls will NOT do that for you either if you do not come to their communities and ask them for help (Zoom calls do NOT count). Second, everyone who loses a competitive Republican primary needs to immediately endorse the victor once the race concludes and offer their support. Several candidates in the 2022 gubernatorial primary did not lift a finger to help the nominee, Rep. Christine Drazan, ensuring that Tina Kotek crossed the finish line. If you do not help the nominee whom voters chose, you are revealing to everyone that the election was about YOU, not about conservative principals or Oregon’s needs. Lastly, every faction of the Oregon Republican Party needs to work together for our nominees up and down the ballot. Even I have put sworn enemies to work getting good people elected in key races – if I can, you, can, too.
2) Congress, Pass the Pet and Livestock Protection Act!
Oh boy. Wolves again. My favorite topic! The wolves in Oregon are an invasive species that gorge on livestock and menace rural communities. Wolf depredations rarely end at the death of one or two cows. The trauma inflicted by the pursuit of a wolf often results in medical damage to surviving cows, severely degrading a cattle ranch’s ability to stay financially afloat following an attack. Worse yet, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife officials have a nasty reputation for lazily mis-identifying wolf depredations when they do not feel like working on these cases, leaving scientists and policy makers with no data-driven picture of how bad the problem is. Enter America’s best Congressman, Cliff Bentz, with the Pet and Livestock Protection Act! Oregon’s Democratic House delegation uniformly voted no on protecting eastern Oregon from wolf depredations, preferring to listen to high-dollar donors in areas without wolf populations demanding that rural parts of the Beaver State suffer. Senator Ron Wyden and Senator Jeff Merkley, you have a chance this year to tell anti-rural donors to sit back while you protect rural Oregon from the ravages of an invasive species. What are they going to do when you vote yes? There will be no credible Republican US Senate candidate on the ballot this year or the foreseeable future, so it is not like those anti-rural donor dollars will be going to a competitor. As per Rep. Bentz’s office, the Pet and Livestock Protection Act “would return wildlife management authority to the states, allowing for commonsense, locally driven solutions that reflect conditions on the ground, without the confusion surrounding split management.” Congress, get it done!
3) Salem Elites, Fix ODOT!
Two hundred signatures collected from my community of Elgin made up .08% of the total 250,000 signatures to repeal Oregon’s unconscionable transportation package, and for good reason. High gas taxes hit consumers at the pump and everywhere else they have to pay for freight-delivered goods, and local governments will also pay a higher price that will redirect funds from municipal services. Higher payroll taxes that currently do not provide transit in my community will continue to not be used for Elgin’s benefit. Increased vehicle registration fees and government mileage tracking of electric vehicles end up making transportation more expensive for everyone, especially in a rural area where Salem elites actively work to prevent affordable transit options. Friendly reminder to Salem elites who were mystified that anyone would not want higher gas prices and decreased takehome pay in exchange for… literally nothing: House Republicans produced their own transit funding proposal in April 2025 that fully funded the Oregon Department of Transportation without any fee increases. I will even put it here for you to read instead of googling it yourself. Once you have educated yourself, fix it in the 2026 legislative session or watch voters do it for you at the ballot box this November.
4) Kill the Willamette Valley Reservoir Drawdowns for Good!
I have said all I can say about the horrific reservoir drawdowns in the Willamete Valley. Vexatious litigation from anti-environment groups from across the nation, including one that operates on the campus of Portland’s Lewis & Clark College, continues to be the bane of local water systems. Rep. Ed Diehl’s office provided excellent information about powerful work being done in Washington, DC, to avert the next step of this man-made ecological calamity, but he cannot work alone. Along with diligent legislative Republicans and Marion County Commissioners, every single state legislator, statewide elected official, Congressperson, and Senator from Oregon needs to work together to kill these drawdowns. Congress needs to avert more disasters with legislation, and President Trump needs to exercise his authority as commander in chief to ensure that Americans are no longer targeted by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
5) President Trump, Fix America’s Broken Immigration System!
It is no secret that I am not an immigration hawk. I think that President Trump’s attempt to out-do President Obama on deportation and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and Christian refugees from the Middle East is, at the very least, economically ill-advised but in the case of a number of advocates, comes from a place of outright racism (looking at you, Stephen Miller). But what can be done? Look no further than the DIGNITY Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Texas Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar. Key Provisions of the DIGNITY Act include:
- Border Security: Fully funds modern border infrastructure and enforcement.
- Mandatory E-Verify: Prevents illegal hiring and protects American jobs.
- Asylum Reform: Ends catch-and-release, and ensures timely and credible outcomes.
- Dreamer Protections: Grants legal status and a path to permanent residency.
- The Dignity Program: A 7-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution.
- Workforce Development: Expands training, apprenticeships, and education for American workers.
- Legal Immigration Reform: Updates visa categories to align with 21st-century economic needs.
You can have your cake and it eat it too on immigration, once you eject the rabid white supremacists (Stephen Miller) from the conversation. We can have a secure border. We can also stop sending Christian refugees back to Iran where they will be violently executed by a terrorist state for their beliefs. It is not complicated. Both Republicans and Democrats need to understand the moral and economic value of border security and immigration. Or they could continue fundraising off the problem rather than fixing it. Remember, folks:
“There’s more money in a problem than a solution.”
– Every American Politician Ever
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