In the movie Cast Away, Tom Hanks’s character Chuck Noland needed something more than the flimsy rubber life raft he had when he arrived on the island to escape the pounding waves and coral reefs. Eventually, the ocean provided him with a sail when a broken porta-potty washed up on the island. He started planning his escape from the island with the help of the sail, but he also needed to wait until the prevailing winds changed direction, from blowing onshore to out to sea.
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In Oregon, there has been a shift in the prevailing political winds. The shift started when Governor Kotek and the supermajority Democrats proposed and passed the Transportation Package bill, which would allow Oregon Democrats to tax ordinary, hard-working 40-hour-a-week Oregonians $4.3 billion dollars to reward the Oregon Department of Transportation, or ODOT as it is known in Oregon. Without any vote or voice in the process by the taxpayers in Oregon, two Republican Senators and lots of upset people across Oregon challenged the tax proposal; they joined with hundreds of volunteer workers who carried thousands of pages of a petition to put the tax on the ballot for working Oregonians to sign so they have a voice on how they were being taxed. In about a month, there were 250,000 signatures on the petition, and the tax initiative Measure 120 was placed on the ballot for a vote May 19 2026. The May election results were 82.3% No and 17.7%.
Yes, a staggering 4-to-1 margin defeat of the Democrat tax initiative.
This was the first noticeable shift in the political winds in Oregon. Throughout June and into July, there was a noticeable change in the tone of Republican events, parade floats, and public interactions. During the Hillsboro Parade, there were very loud boos for the Democrat float; they had a lot of Pride flags, trans stuff, and it appears the parade spectators were not happy about that. The Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan led out, and the GOP float was just behind Christine’s float; we had lots of cheers and people hollering encouraging things, unlike previous parades when the GOP was mocked and received a lot of very disturbing hand gestures. We did two public festivals immediately after the parade: the Sherwood, Oregon Robin Hood festival, where we had great interaction with the festival goers, friendly comments, and people happy to see us there. We were able to have in-depth conversations with some of the Millennials and Gen Zers. When they left, they thanked us for actually talking politics with them. They said other adults just refuse to talk to them about things that will affect them in the future. We also did a peanut poll: we had pictures of the two gubernatorial candidates, and people could vote for their preferred candidate by putting a peanut in the jar next to their choice. The results of the peanut poll definitely signaled that Oregonians have had enough of the Democrats’ 40-year hold on power. One week later, we did the Washington County fair, and the results were the same: overwhelming votes for Drazan.
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The other indication that the wind has shifted is that Christine Drazan can and has articulated strong policies that will turn Oregon around. The ramifications of Oregon flipping will mean the west coast blue corridor has a red speed bump in the middle of it. Like Chuck Noland, we have to watch until the prevailing winds fully shift direction, but there are signs it is happening.
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John Woods: Husband, Father, Delegate to Oregon Republican Party.
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