Oregon Republican Party
The Oregon Republican Party is the U.S. state affiliate of the United States Republican Party, headquartered in Salem, Oregon. The party was established in the Oregon Territory in February 1857 as the "Free State Republican Party of Oregon" and held its first state convention on April 1, 1859, after Oregon achieved statehood.
The Republican Party was the dominant political organization in the state of Oregon from the time of the American Civil War through the 1960s, before moving to a position of approximate parity with the rival Democratic Party of Oregon for the next four decades. Since 2000, the Oregon Republican Party has become a minority party in state government, which has generally been controlled by Democrats. Oregon Republican currently control just 1 out of 6 U.S. House seats, no statewide offices, and minorities in the state legislature.
In recent years, the Oregon Republican Party has been the subject of significant controversy regarding the increasing influence of radical right organizations and militias within the party, especially during the first presidency of Donald Trump. The party received national attention and widespread criticism for its attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, and its resolution claiming the 2021 United States Capitol attack was a false flag operation.
History
Antislavery origins
The politics of the Oregon Territory were largely dominated by the generally states' rights Democratic Party with a vocal pro-slavery component. Only weak opposition came from the Whigs and their nativist Know Nothing cousins. A serious opposition first began to emerge in the aftermath of the bitter and costly Rogue River Wars of 1855 to 1856, centered around the growing anti-slavery sentiment nationally and the increasing threat that the Democratic Party would hasten the expansion of slavery in Oregon. Opposition to the Democrats gradually coalesced around the fledgling Republican Party that was intent upon slavery's limitation.A first convention of Republicans in Oregon was held in May 1856 at the Lindley schoolhouse in Jackson County, with the gathering called for the nomination of candidates to appear on the June 1856 territorial ballot. The convention also adopted a resolution declaring that while Congress had no power over the existence of slavery in states in which it already existed, outside of such state jurisdictions federal power should be exerted to prevent its introduction.
Throughout 1856, antislavery sentiment continued to grow in Oregon, with Republican clubs springing up around the state. Republican county conventions were held in Clackamas, Washington, Marion, Linn, and possibly one or two other locales around the state. Representatives of these county gatherings were then assembled at a territorial organizing convention held in Albany on February 11, 1857, which adopted the official name "Free State Republican Party of Oregon" for the organization. A platform for the new political party was announced, emphasizing the indissoluble nature of the United States, opposition of the expansion of slavery to free territory, prohibition of polygamy, construction of a Pacific railroad to link Oregon with California, government effort to improve the navigability of rivers and harbors, and admission of Oregon to the United States only as a free state.
The year 1857 was marked by preparations for future Oregon statehood, including the holding of a constitutional convention, and the ruling Democratic Party found itself divided over the question of slavery, attempting to sidestep the issue by passing in state convention a resolution binding Democratic delegates to such a gathering to the position that the matter of slavery in Oregon be settled later by a vote of the people.
The Republicans did not nominate a candidate for Representative to Congress in the June 1857 election, instead pooling their support for G.W. Lawson, a Free Soil Democrat running as an independent. While pro-slavery Democrat Joseph Lane was ultimately sent as the Territorial delegate to Congress, voting further down the ticket showed a Republican advance, with Republicans joining with so-called "soft" Democrats to elect about a third of the delegates to the constitutional convention and 10 of the 30 members to the Oregon Territorial Legislature.
The constitutional convention held in the summer of 1857 ultimately steamrolled Republican sentiment and again sidestepped the slavery question by deciding to leave the slavery question to a vote of the people, while declaring that "no negro, Chinaman, or mulatto should have the right to vote." The bill of rights adopted by the Democratic-dominated constitutional convention gave the future state legislature the right to exclude African Americans from immigrating to the state altogether, thereby setting the stage for restrictive racial laws in spite of Oregon's free state status.
Three propositions were ultimately put to territorial voters, with the Democratic-authored Oregon Constitution gaining approval by a vote of about 7,200 to 3,100, a measure allowing slavery falling to defeat by a majority of nearly 5,100 votes, and a proposal allowing "Free Negroes" to settle in Oregon overwhelmingly defeated by a vote of 8,640 to 1,081. Oregon would not be a slave state but rather one closed to black immigration — a law remaining on the books into the 20th century.
19th century
On April 1, 1859, just two weeks after Oregon was admitted to the Union, the Republican Party held a convention in Salem at which it nominated David Logan as the party's choice for the state's first fully fledged Congressional representative. Logan would narrowly fall to defeat both in 1859 and again when nominated again for a full term in the election of 1860, but national political events would soon change the tide for the new political party. The Democratic Party found itself divided with the coming of the American Civil War between pro- and anti-Union elements. With the nation embroiled in war, pro-Union Democrats and Republicans put aside their differences at a fusion convention in April 1862, establishing themselves as the Union Party. This joint political organization would continue in Oregon through four elections under the Union Party banner, terminating only in 1868.As the united political organization for a preserved United States of America in contradistinction to defeatists and Confederate sympathizers, the Union Party and, after 1868, the rechristened Republican Party experienced dramatic political gains in Oregon, buoyed by the defection and disenfranchisement of the Democratic South. The party, as one historian noted, began to "grow like the plant that sprang up from the mustard seed." An alliance of Republicans and pro-Union Democrats in the Oregon State Legislature came together in 1860 to elect Edward Dickinson Baker as the first Republican U.S. Senator from Oregon. An era of Republican dominance in Oregon was begun.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Baker raised his own militia, in which he served as commanding officer. On October 21, 1861, with Congress out of session, Colonel Baker and his men met Confederate forces on a hill called Ball's Bluff just outside Washington, D.C. Shortly after the battle started Baker was killed along with nearly 1,000 others.
Despite the untimely death of Oregon's first Senator, E.D. Baker would hardly be the last. Over the next 30 years a steady stream of Republicans were sent to the U.S. Senate by the Oregon legislature, including Benjamin F. Harding, George H. Williams, Henry W. Corbett, John H. Mitchell, Joseph N. Dolph, and George W. McBride.
By the 1890s, the ideology of the two major parties had begun to switch, with the Republican Party emerging as the party of sound money, industry and commerce, protective tariffs, and expansionist foreign policy.
20th century
The early 20th century saw a period of significant Republican leadership in Oregon. The Republican Party controlled the Governor's office from 1939 to 1957 with multiple Governors throughout other parts of the century as well.In 1918, Charles McNary was appointed to serve as a United States Senator after the death of Harry Lane. Frederick Mulkey was elected to serve the remainder of the term, serving for approximately one month, when McNary was elected to a full term. He was re-elected 4 times, serving a total of 25 years. In the Senate, McNary served as Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee from 1926 to 1933, and then Minority Leader from 1933 to 1944. McNary helped pass legislation that led to the construction of the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam, and supported much of the New Deal. McNary was also the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in the 1940 election, as Wendell Willkie's running mate.McNary was the longest serving Senator in Oregon's history until surpassed by fellow Republican Mark Hatfield, who served from 1967 to 1997. Hatfield served as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee twice, and was also Governor of Oregon before his time in the Senate, from 1959 to 1967.
In 1967, Tom McCall was elected Governor of Oregon. McCall is considered one of Oregon's most influential Governors. McCall was a staunch environmentalist and an advocate of sustainable development. He is notable for passing the Oregon Bottle Bill, America's first container-deposit legislation, as well as the Oregon Beach Bill which established public ownership of land along the Oregon Coast from the water up to sixteen vertical feet above the low tide mark. McCall served until 1975.
Victor Atiyeh served as Oregon's last Republican Governor, from 1979 to 1987. Republicans maintained both US Senate seats until 1995, and kept one until 2009.
21st century
, the 38th president Oregon Republicans controlled the State House of Representatives from 1991 until 2006. The house was split in 2005, with both parties creating a power-sharing agreement with both parties choosing a Co-Speaker, and all committees and chairmanships split evenly between the parties. The Senate was controlled by the Republicans from 1995 until 2002. The next session was split, with a similar power-sharing agreement created in the Senate.In 2008, US Senator Gordon H. Smith was defeated by Democrat Jeff Merkley. Smith is the most recent Republican to serve in the US Senate. Since 2000, the Republicans have only held one statewide office, the Secretary of State, which was held by Dennis Richardson from 2017 to 2019, and then Bev Clarno, who finished Richardson's term due to his death while in office.