In 2023, Wallowa County residents voted in favor of taking an initial step towards breaking away from Oregon and joining Idaho. (Courtesy of Rick Vetter)
The Greater Idaho movement, which seeks to redraw Oregon’s border and have most of central and eastern Oregon counties join its eastern neighbor, has displayed a knack for getting attention. But its run may be nearing an end because it is hitting a wall in moving toward its goal.
On Dec. 4, the Citizens for Greater Idaho group sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump asking for his help in shifting the counties to Idaho. Pointing out that people in eastern Oregon largely supported Trump in the November election while the state overall remained Democratic, the group said, “We yearn to join the family of small-government and citizen-directed systems that Idahoans enjoy, but we need help from your administration to make this happen.”
Apparently, Trump has not responded.
He could speak out on the issue, but a president has little ability to change state boundaries. Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution says no changes involving “parts of states” can happen “without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress.”
The Greater Idaho movement could petition Congress for action, though there seems to be little interest there. Early in 2023 the group did see a whisper of movement on that front, with the Idaho House of Representatives passing House Joint Memorial 1, which “resolves that the Idaho Legislature stands ready to begin discussions with the Oregon Legislature regarding the potential to relocate the Oregon/Idaho state boundary.”
But the statement was nonbinding, and it didn’t pass by a large margin. It died in a Senate committee, and the idea was not revived in the 2024 legislative session.
One of the legislators who supported the memorial said during the debate he didn’t think it would ever happen. Though the Greater Idaho movement is good public relations for Idaho, state officials don’t appear to have much interest in moving forward with it.
Their action is still more than what Oregon lawmakers have done, and there are no signs of any movement on that front in Salem. Gov. Tina Kotek has not addressed the issue either even though backers called for talks on the issue this spring. Then on July 11, the Greater Idaho leaders sent her a letter, asking to meet. Their website says no response has been forthcoming.
The group has had some success with voters. From November 2020 to this May, 13 Oregon counties voted in favor of talks on the Greater Idaho idea: Jefferson, Union, Baker, Grant, Lake, Malheur, Sherman, Harney, Klamath, Morrow, Wheeler, Wallowa and Crook. One of those, Wallowa, voted against in 2020 but reversed that stand this year by a margin of seven votes.
That marked a slight reversal of the general trend of support, however. The most electoral enthusiasm for an Idaho move was in 2021 and 2022, when measures calling for talks on the issue won about 60% support. Votes in Wallowa and Crook counties that have been held since then have been much closer.
The movement may have gone as far as it can. Voters in Josephine and Douglas counties rejected Greater Idaho, and meetings on the idea in counties where measures passed have been sparsely attended.
The movement is based in La Pine, which is in Deschutes County. The county has not voted on the idea, and it would likely fail there: Deschutes County tilts Democratic. A vote has not been held in Jackson County, either.
The Greater Idaho movement has few options left, but it still can be considered a success. It has brought fresh attention to the concerns of the eastern part of the state, and it probably has had an effect on legislation and even Kotek’s travels, though she’s not met with the group itself.
The likelihood of Trump getting involved is close to nil, but the movement has had an impact.
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