The leader of the State of Jefferson movement in Oregon now endorses the Greater Idaho plan, moving the boundary to allow at least 10 counties to join the Gem State.

  Jefferson State movement would have created a 51st state including Northern CA, part of Oregon.

You may not know northern CA is much more like Eastern Oregon and WA, much more conservative than 'so-Cal.'   However, a movement that revived over 8 years ago to create a fifty-first state called "Jefferson" has all but died down in CA. It would have included northern CA, and likely part of southern Oregon. It actually has roots back to the last century.

This week, the current leader of the Jefferson Movement in Oregon, Bob Chard, has endorsed the Greater Idaho movement, saying it has a far better chance of succeeding.

Part of the reason it would succeed, he says, is because creating an entirely new  51st. state, would require changes in the US Senate. Two more national senators would have to be added.  According to information released by the Greater Idaho Movement on Monday:

 "Both plans would require the approval of the Oregon Legislature, but only creating a new state would add two Republicans to the US Senate.  Chard agreed the Legislature is more likely to approve the Greater Idaho plan because it would not affect the US Senate."

The Greater Idaho plan has already won approval in 9 counties, and Morrow County will be voting on the measure this fall.  Maps from the Greater Idaho Movement show how a revised Oregon would look, it would effectively be split in half, down the Cascades.

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Chard had been working on the Jefferson state movement in Oregon since he revived it 7 years ago, gathering thousands of signatures and support at fairs, meetings, and public events. However, he's largely abandoned it when he learned that CA legislators and judges have virtually ignored the effort, leaving it with little to no traction.

 

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