Daily Times

From the sun-dappled, tree-lined village of Joseph, Debbie Price can see the distant snowy peaks of the Seven Devils, a series of mountains in the Rockies that mark Oregon’s border with Idaho. But for many eastern Oregonians like Price, that frontier no longer feels relevant.

The 64-year-old retiree is part of a local movement that wants to redraw the region’s map so that they can secede to join the neighboring, more conservative state of Idaho. “There’s a lot more freedom in Idaho than there is here,” said the former legal assistant, who traveled across the state border to remarry during the pandemic, at a time when weddings were banned in Oregon.

Among her list of grievances with Oregon are impending restrictions on carrying firearms, its decriminalization of the use of drugs, its pro-choice stance on abortion, and its support for LGBTQ rights. Price blames all these on the “woke agenda” radiating out from Portland, the progressive metropolis near the northwestern state’s coast. “Maybe I’m old fashioned. I want things to stay like they are,” said the devout Christian, touting Idaho’s ban on abortion. “I’m not anxious to move forward and try to be what the world is going toward these days.”