Idaho lawmakers hear pitch to absorb three-fourths of Oregon

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho lawmakers appeared intrigued but skeptical when pitched a plan to lop off about three-fourths of Oregon and add it to Idaho to create what would be the nation’s third-largest state geographically.

Representatives of a group called Move Oregon’s Border For a Greater Idaho outlined their plan to Idaho lawmakers on Monday.

The Idaho Legislature would have to approve the plan that would expand Idaho's southwestern border to the Pacific Ocean.

Supporters say rural Oregon voters are dominated by liberal urban areas such as Portland, and would rather join conservative Idaho. The Oregon Legislature and the U.S. Congress would also have to sign off.

“There’s a longtime cultural divide as big as the Grand Canyon between northwest Oregon and rural Oregon, and it’s getting larger,” Mike McCarter of La Pine, president of Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho, told Idaho lawmakers.

“Values of faith, family, independence. That’s what we’re about,” said Mark Simmons, an eastern Oregon rancher and former speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. “We don’t need the state breathing down our necks all the time, micromanaging our lives and trying to push us into a foreign way of living.”

President Joe Biden easily won Washington, Oregon and California in November, while President Donald Trump carried Idaho with 64%. The Idaho House and Senate each have supermajorities of Republicans.

Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/legislature-oregon-pacific-ocean-portland-idaho-23b88e25ec6a279c98d33b3d9253ef34.