The Rational Republican

James and Nick welcome Xander Almeida back to review the new and improved ORP Platform.

Nick and James welcome Director Andrea Bell, director of Oregon Housing and Community Services to talk housing and good government.

I'll be honest, this was one of my favorite podcasts in a while. Elizabeth is super smart and we could have kept the conversation going for hours, but were limited by other activities at Dorchester.

Christian Honl is running for State Representative in HD32 on the northern Oregon coast. He is seeking to unseat the incumbent turncoat who ran as a Republican but re registered as a Democrat after voting for the controversial Transpiration Tax.

James and Nick welcome Andrew Morrison back to the podcast to talk about affordability and running for office in disincorporated Damascus.

James and Nick sit down to talk about the recent ICE killings and the public fallout

Kicking off a new "season" of TRR as we get into Primary season, James and Nick discuss the foreign policy decisions executed in the first few weeks of 2026.

James and Nick welcome a couple folks from Western Justice, the NRA for the "western" way of life. A very different vibe from the last episode

Posting these out of order because the LCR's have an event on May 10th we'd like to plug. The Log Cabin Republicans are members of the LGBT community who hold conservative principles. Many say that "coming out" as Republican was harder than coming out as gay. Listen to their story here.

Before James was a podcast host and small business owner, he was an Army officer and frequently in charge of handling classified materials. So given the recent article from The Atlantic, we decided to give an insider view of how classification works.

A crossover episode with the Crosstabs podcast. We talk about the ORP elections that just took place, what it's like to run a podcast, and some insider baseball on what life is like in the Capitol.

Jerry Cummings is a pastor and Republican mega-volunteer running for ORP Chair in spring 2025. Win or lose, I'm sure we haven't heard the last from Jerry!

In 2020, "fake news" was mostly a conservative problem where people would share fictitious articles on facebook, and they would go viral. in 2025 if seems that the roles have been reversed, and the Left are believing any piece of media that confirms their bias. James and Nick discuss.

Part 2 of our live panel at Eastern Oregon University. Since this was recorded live, some of the audio is messy but still a great conversation.

James and Nick speak take part in a panel discussion at Eastern Oregon University about different topics that impact our political world. Part 1

President Elect Trump's cabinet picks have been making headlines and (predictably) those on the left have decried them as the worst picks in the history of the universe. We welcome Jeff Stone to go over some of our favorite winners and losers from the incoming president's cabinet.

James and Nick welcome two Young Republican extraordinaires to the podcast, Calvin Bennett and Tanner Elliott, to discuss the 2024 election results.

Rep Diehl (pronounced "deal") represents HD17 southeast of Salem.

Aimee Reiner is a long-time activist who got started in her political career during the COVID lockdowns, caring for her special-needs son.

John Masterman is a small business owner running for the State House in HD 48 which includes Damascus, SE Portland, and parts of Gresham

Paul Drechsler (pronounced Drexler) is running for HD50 in east Multnomah County. This is a D+4 district and very winnable, and Paul is the guy to do it.

James and Nick welcome Bri Hall, the only registered Independent at a Young Republicans debate watch party, to give a reaction to the September 10th presidential debate.

Jake Mead is a small business owner in HIllsboro, running for City Council. I (James) have known Jake for several years and he's the real deal, be sure not to skip this one!

Andrew Morrison is a former alleged city councilor for the City of Damascus, OR and most recently a candidate for HD48. He was unsuccessful in his Primary, but I don't think we've seen the end of Andrew

Terry Tipsord has been an involved member of his community for over 40 years and now he's running for HD49 to continue serving in the Legislature.