Political campaigns are like camouflage jackets: everybody in Eastern Oregon owns one, but most of us only wear it to go hunting. Josiah Dean is wearing his to go hunting for votes.
Take a look at his original campaign logo: bright Republican red with an outline of Oregon, some mountains, a windmill, a star, and the slogan “Standing Up for What’s Right.” It could have been designed by a county GOP committee in an afternoon.
It was enough to confuse at least one voter. A commenter named Ricardo asked the campaign page directly: “Is the red indicative of a Republican conservative platform? Just curious…”
That was a perfect chance to say, “No, I am the Green Party candidate.” Here’s what Josiah said instead:
I am running on issues that are important to the rural district that I will be representing. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. More details coming shortly, stay tuned.
“More details” turned up a little later, though not on the campaign page. On August 5 he posted a thank-you note to his Green Party friends “at the ANM” and, bless his heart, spelled out the whole plan:
Don’t let my red logo scare you, I am running a ‘covert’ campaign. I am running in a rural, conservative district. I am down playing my party affiliation and focusing on issues.
Covert. His word, not mine.
So the folks in District 57 got “stay tuned,” and the Green Party got the real answer. The wolf told everyone except the sheep that the wool was just for show.
Update for those keeping score at home: the red logo has since gone green. Moral victory for Josiah, I guess. Somewhere a Green Party delegate is lighting a beeswax candle to celebrate. But changing the color of your sign after you get caught is not courage, it is damage control. He still wrote “covert,” and he meant it.
Even the color change does not hide much. His campaign social media page does not say “Green Party.” His mailers don’t say “Green Party.” His website doesn’t say “Green Party.” That is a lot of scrubbing for a man who represented the Green Party as a national delegate at its convention. If I were proud enough of my party to go to the big national meeting, I would probably mention it once. Maybe on my mailer. Maybe in a font bigger than a pesticide label.
His personal Facebook page is where the camouflage is removed.
Josiah Dean on Rural Conservatives
Remember that slogan, “Standing Up for What’s Right”? In February 2025 he shared a post that read, “I’ve stopped debating with people on the right. The sheer level of willful ignorance and delusion is just too exhausting to deal with.”
So he will stand up for what is right, but he will not talk to anyone on the right. Thanks for clarifying.
On April 6 he posted “Regan ruined everything” [sic, he spelled the Gipper’s name wrong] along with a meme that ends, “Republicans have been f—ing America and the world for decades.”
On June 30 he shared a graphic about fighting “the fascists who are in charge of the federal government” and captioned it with one enthusiastic word: “Exactly!”
Those are some interesting “issues important to the rural district” that must have been imagined by a backyard composter in downtown Portland.
Josiah Dean on the Democratic Party
Before any Democrats feel smug *checks notes* he does not like you much either.
In July 2025 he shared a post about Democratic “mega-donors” and announced, “This is why I am Green Party.”
In December 2025 he shared a meme accusing Democrats of “rigging primaries” and “shamelessly exploiting the issues of marginalized people.”
And on March 27 of this year he asked, “Are you fed up with both parties?” and shared a Green Party graphic urging voters to “reject the parties of War and Wall Street.”
The tone is likely very different when Josiah is begging for money. Why else would the Wasco County Democratic Committee have sent his campaign $1100 in cash or donated over $100 worth in-kind campaign materials? Raz Mason, a 2022 Democratic state senate candidate who ran with Jeff Merkley’s endorsement, must have been similarly charmed by Josiah’s devotion to her party when she sent $200 from her campaign account. Oregon’s reliably pro-Democrat legacy media is even wading in, with a copy editor at the Grants Pass Daily Courier chipping in over $100.
Josiah’s Green Worldview
House District 57’s voters appear simple to Dufur’s (not so) favorite son. Conservatives are willfully ignorant and delusional. Republicans have been ruining America for decades. Democrats rig elections and exploit the vulnerable – except when they are giving him money. And the man who believes all of that wants Republicans AND Democrats to send him to Salem.
How exactly do you vote for a guy who cannot stand either party but tells both of them he is their best option? He clearly does not want voters to know who he really is. That is the whole point of a covert campaign. Rural voters got the red logo (until it quietly went green). Curious voters got “stay tuned.” Democrats get the outstretched hand pleading for campaign donations. His Green Party pals got a wink and a “don’t worry, it’s just for show.” Everybody gets a different Josiah, and nobody gets the real one unless they scroll back far enough on Facebook.
That also explains why so much of his campaign amounts to taking shots at Rep. Greg Smith. When you cannot run on who you are, you run against somebody else. It is easier to throw rocks than to explain why your own mailer is hiding your party like a teenager hiding a report card.
Here is some free campaign advice, Josiah: if you believe what you post, put it on your mailers. If you are a proud member of the Green Party, say so the next time a voter asks you. Voters in House District 57 can handle the truth. What they cannot stand is being treated like marks.
Eastern Oregonians have a pretty good nose for when somebody’s trying to sell them something. A candidate who announces he is running a “covert” campaign just handed them the receipts.
