Voters in a rural county in eastern Oregon have repealed their support for leaving the liberal state and joining its more conservative neighbor, Idaho. On Tuesday, Wallowa County became the first of 13 counties that had passed measures to leave Oregon to reverse course, dealing a major blow to the 'Greater Idaho' project.
The Greater Idaho Movement
The movement was initiated in early 2020 by organizer Mike McCarter of La Pine, Oregon. The goal was, and still is, to gradually convince Oregon legislatures to move the eastern and southern counties into Idaho, one of the reddest states in the union. Supporters of a 'Greater Idaho' living in these counties often feel culturally mismatched with, and politically drowned out by, fellow Oregonians in the left-leaning cities of Portland, Eugene, and the capital city of Salem.
The Democratic Party has enjoyed decades of dominance in Oregon politics, and it currently controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.
Wallowa County's Reversal
Despite any reservations Wallowa County voters might have with an enduring Democratic trifecta, 61 percent of them chose to remain in Oregon, overturning a 2023 measure that passed by a razor-thin margin of seven votes. Of the 13 counties that have expressed a desire to leave the state, Wallowa County gave President Donald Trump his second-lowest vote share in the 2024 election. Trump still decisively won Wallowa with 65 percent of the vote, but in other 'Greater Idaho'-supporting counties, such as Lake County, he reached 81 percent of the vote share.
Still, the counties that have passed initiatives to leave Oregon acknowledge that these efforts are largely symbolic, functioning more as an expression of residents' beliefs than actual policy changes. No counties in the United States have the authority to unilaterally leave their state, much like states themselves were stripped of any claimed right to secede from the union after the Civil War.
Challenges to Shifting the Border
Shifting the Oregon-Idaho border would require the assent of both the Idaho and Oregon legislatures, as well as Congress. All of this coming together is seen as extremely unlikely. Representatives and senators outside Idaho and Oregon are not engaged on this issue, and Congress has not taken up, debated, or voted on any legislation to adjust the border.
While many Idaho Republicans have expressed openness to having conversations about moving the border, their support for actually doing it is lukewarm at best and not a top priority. The last notable vote by the Idaho Legislature directly related to creating a Greater Idaho was in February 2023, when the state House passed a nonbinding resolution to encourage border discussions with Oregon officials. The resolution did not change any laws or move annexation forward, and 17 Republicans voted against it.
Former State Rep. Greg Lanting, a Republican from Twin Falls, said at the time that his own constituents rejected the measure '10 to 1'. He was one of the no votes. Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Democrat from Boise, has pointed out that the counties seeking to join Idaho have high rates of Medicaid enrollment, which would be an added expense for taxpayers in the state.
Reactions and Future Prospects
Back in Wallowa County, Shawna Jannuzi, who organized the effort to repeal the 2023 measure supporting joining Idaho, said voters changed their minds after they were told the idea was impractical and that Idaho was not entirely on board. 'One of the reasons it lost support is they realized the county commissioners can't move the needle,' Jannuzi told The Oregonian. 'And the realization that Idaho doesn't really want us. It would cost them billions of dollars. Idaho's minimum wage is much lower. It would just restructure a lot of things.'
McCarter, the Oregon resident who started the Greater Idaho movement, said the result in Wallowa does not concern him. 'I'm glad the people in Wallowa County spoke out. It is not a big issue for us at all,' he said. 'We're not giving up on it. There's no blueprint on how to go about doing something like this.'
