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Secession movements have been fairly common in Washington state. Now in Oregon, rural counties are banding together for a different kind of secession attempt.

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The effort is being led by a group known as (CGI), aiming in southern and eastern Oregon — as well as parts of Northern California — with Idaho, extending all the way to the coast. According to Keaton Ems, the group’s vice president of government relations, this is the culmination of years of political frustration.

“I just watched stagnating policymaking and policies that just came from the urban center, with complete disregard for how rural Oregonians live,” Ems told ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Radio’s Dave Ross.

He points to several examples of measures proposed by the Democrats super-majority in the Oregon Legislature, including a cap and trade climate change bill, a bid to outlaw the use of diesel fuel, and doubling the branding fees for cattle.

Despite comprising a minority, Republicans in the Legislature have pushed back by refusing to attend floor sessions, taking advantage of procedural rules that prevent votes from moving forward without reaching a quorum of 20 lawmakers in attendance. That came to a head in 2020, when several Republican state senators fled the state to stall a vote on a cap and trade proposal.

That gridlock is what Ems hopes to overcome by realigning Oregon’s more conservative areas with a state that represents its politics.

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“Moving to Idaho is moving to a jurisdiction that is geared towards rural citizens needs,” he described. “It’s like being a smaller fish in a smaller pond.”

Currently, Citizens for a Greater Idaho has seven Oregon counties which have voted to approve nonbinding resolutions in favor of its plan, mandating regularly scheduled meetings “to get public input to talk about it.”

“The whole campaign is designed this way so we’re not just like a flash in the pan — we’re not just one vote, we get crushed, and we go away,” Ems said. “If we keep on moving forward, county by county, keep the talk going, keep people’s interest in it, and it’s starting to take a life of its own.”

CGI also faces a steep climb, though. have predicted that the merger is unlikely to happen, given that it requires the approval of Oregon and Idaho state Legislatures, and then final approval from Congress. Idaho would also have to amend its state Constitution, which lays out the states current borders.

Despite that, Ems says the goal is to “get it done as soon as possible.”

“Hopefully within the next two to four years, we could be seeing a significant resolution or negotiations between the two state Legislatures and two state governments,” he said.

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