Eastern Oregon is One Step Closer to Becoming Apart of Idaho
At this point it's still considered a sort of far-fetched idea but it quite literally has Idaho lawmakers listening.
Idaho lawmakers were pitched a plan by representatives of a group called Move Oregon’s Border For a Greater Idaho on Monday. The plan is to take a solid chunk of Oregon (about three-fourths of the state) and add it onto Idaho's southwestern border. This would take Idaho's border basically all the way up to the Pacific Ocean and would create the U.S.'s third-largest state geographically.
Supporters say that rural Oregon voters are not accurately being represented due to the domination of liberal urban areas such as Portland and that the current location of the border does not match the location of the cultural divide in Oregon. Eastern Oregon would rather become a part of the conservative neighboring state of Idaho where political, economical, and social values better align.
This obviously would not be the first time state lines have been relocated in American history; in fact, the Oregon/Washington border was changed and updated in 1958. There are few things that need to happen though for this to be accomplished.
The Idaho AND the Oregon Legislature would have to approve the plan and sign off as well as the U.S. Congress. So although there is still a lot that would have to be done in order to make this happen, step one is already complete and that was to get lawmakers to hear out the proposal. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how far this thing goes.