Hood River GOP Betrayal

Oregon Republicans deserve better.

For too long, the Oregon Republican Party (ORP) has been controlled by a tight-knit clique of career politicians and insiders in Salem — the “Salem Swamp” — who prioritize protecting their own power over advancing conservative values or winning elections.

Figures like Christine Drazan, Bruce Starr, David Smith, and their allies have turned the party into a self-serving club. They prop each other up, attack or sideline outsiders, and repeatedly vote with Democrats on issues that betray core Republican principles. Bruce Starr endorsed Drazan for governor early in the primaries .

The result of this insider swamp clique?

The smallest major political party in Oregon, a string of November losses, and a state where conservative voices are increasingly silenced. This is not leadership. It is sabotage — and it is happening right now in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.

Russ McAlmond is the only Marine veteran running as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Oregon. He is not a career politician. He has never held elected office, does not want to become a lifer in Washington, D.C., and pledges to serve no more than two terms. A proud U.S. Marine with an honorable discharge, McAlmond brings real-world experience as a financial professional, business leader, and founder of the Center for Human Equality as a human rights activist. 

He represents the kind of fresh, principled outsider that Oregon Republicans desperately need. Yet the establishment has worked overtime to keep him — and candidates like him — from even speaking to Republican voters. 

Oregon Republican Party bylaws are crystal clear: the ORP must treat all candidates running in the primary equally and fairly. In practice, that rule is ignored whenever it threatens the insiders’ grip on power. Back-channel communications among Salem Swamp Republicans decide who gets invited to speak at local GOP events and who gets disinvited.

The pattern is unmistakable: establishment favorites get the platform; outsiders get the cold shoulder.

A recent example makes the corruption plain. Months ago, the Hood River County Republican Party invited Russ McAlmond to a scheduled event. He accepted and prepared to meet with local Republicans. Then, at the last minute, the invitation was canceled. The reason? To clear the stage for an establishment Republican opponent — a card-carrying member of the Salem Swamp who has a record of voting with Democrats on key issues.

McAlmond never got the chance to introduce himself or share his vision with Hood River Republicans. This was not an innocent scheduling conflict. It was a deliberate act of gatekeeping orchestrated through private networks that decide which Republicans are “allowed” to compete and which are not.

This favoritism is not limited to one county. Across Oregon, establishment Republicans coordinate to elevate their own — even when those candidates are demonstrably weak. They attack or ignore more conservative outsiders, especially veterans and non-politicians who actually represent the values of the base. Establishment Republicans in his own county (Josephine) will not allow him to speak and even attack him. 

The result is a slate of “safe” insiders who too often fold when it matters most. Look at the voting record.

Time and again, Salem Swamp Republicans have joined Democrats to support policies that have nothing to do with Republican values: forcing schools to stock tampons in boys’ restrooms, pouring taxpayer dollars into divisive DEI programs, and backing big-government spending that burdens Oregon families.

These are not isolated lapses.

They reflect a pattern of weak-kneed compromise that alienates the conservative base and hands Democrats easy victories. Oregonians are tired of Republicans who talk tough on the campaign trail but govern like Democrats once they reach Salem. This brand of “leadership” explains why the Oregon Republican Party has shrunk to the smallest major party in the state.

Decades of insider control have produced candidate after candidate who cannot win a general election. Instead of recruiting fighters who can beat entrenched Democrats like U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the establishment recycles the same tired faces and expects a different result. It never comes. Oregon remains a deep-blue state not because conservative ideas are unpopular — they are not — but because the party refuses to nominate candidates who will actually fight for them.

Russ McAlmond is different. He is the outsider the establishment fears most: a Marine who will not bend to the Swamp, a proven leader who rejects careerism, and the only veteran in the Republican Senate field. He is running to restore common-sense representation for Oregonians — on border security, fiscal responsibility, parental rights in education, Second Amendment protections, and ending the waste of taxpayer-funded social experiments.

He does not need the approval of Salem insiders.

He answers to the people of Oregon.The Oregon Republican Party’s bylaws demand fairness. The voters demand better. Every Republican paying attention can now see the truth: the establishment’s censorship of outsiders, its protection of weak insiders, and its willingness to vote with Democrats have directly contributed to the party’s decline.

If this pattern continues, more losses are guaranteed.

The choice in the 2026 primary is clear. Oregon Republicans can keep rewarding the Salem Swamp and watch the party shrink further — or they can rally behind Russ McAlmond, the Marine outsider who refuses to play their game. McAlmond is not asking for permission from the insiders. He is asking Oregon Republicans to take their party back.

The future of the Oregon GOP — and the chance to finally defeat Democrats in a winnable Senate race — depends on rejecting the Swamp and embracing the outsiders who still believe in conservative principles. Russ McAlmond is that candidate. The establishment knows it. Now it’s time for every Oregon Republican to know it too.

Vote Russ McAlmond for U.S. Senate. Break the Swamp. Rebuild the Oregon Republican Party.