The Rational Republican

James and Nick dig deep into the election results from the May 2022 Primary election. Political nerds welcome!

Cheri Helt is a small business owner and former State Legislator who is running for the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) which is probably the least-known statewide elected office, but as with any office, the position has a meaningful impact on our lives.

Judge Day is former Chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, and is running for Appellate Court. This is the first time in many years where an incumbent Judge has a credible challenger, so we were excited to talk with Judge Day to hear about it first hand.

James and Nick welcome Lyndon Kerns, delegate from the Klamath County Republicans and whose family has been farming the Klamath basin for over 100 years. Learn more about the community's struggles at https://www.farmwater.org/food-security-and-water/

James and Nick welcome Alex McHaddad, former Chair of the Union County GOP. Alex is also the treasurer for the Oregon Young Republicans and candidate for ORP Treasurer.

No Nick this time, but James was able to sit down with Betty Campbell to talk about Xpose Hope, a local charity that helps women get out of the sex industry. One of my (James) favorite episodes in a while.

James and Nick welcome Aeric Estep who is running for State Representative in House District 37. Interestingly, James and Aeric knew each other in college back... 15 years ago. Tune in for a great conversation.

James and Nick welcome Patrick Sheehan who served in the Legislature from 2011 to 2013 in the famous 30-30 "split" house. Patrick was succeeded by now Secretary of State Shemia Fagan. If only we had known...

For the first pod of 2022, Nick and James welcome recurring guest Xander Almeida to the podcast to reflect on 2021 and what we can look forward to in 2022.

On this episode, James and Nick welcome Dennis Porter. Dennis helped James out in his 2020 run for State Representative and is now very involved in Bitcoin policy with 53k Twitter followers and a podcast titled Smart People S*it.

On this episode, James and Nick get the opportunity to speak with Rep Ron Noble who represents House District 24 in wine country, Oregon. Rep. Noble is also running for Congress in CD6.

On this episode, Nick takes over hosting duties and asks James about his recent announcement to run for Metro Council Seat 4. What is Metro? Why this seat? What do you hope to accomplish? All great questions that we dive into on this podcast!

James and Nick sit down with Angela Plowhead who is running for Congress in the brand-new congressional district: CD6! Angela is an Air Force Veteran and psychologist who is putting in the legwork to make a serious run at this position! For more info, visit angelafororegon.com.

James and Nick dive deep into the ORP Platform Convention that took place the last weekend of September and James gives some behind-the-scenes insight into how the process takes place and what happened.

The guys get deep into abortion policy in Oregon, Texas and nationally. Two guys talking about abortion? Tune in to find out why we think that's ok.

James and Nick go solo (...duo?) on this one to discuss the recent fall of Afghanistan, what lead up to it and how it could could have been prevented. James spent 3 tours in Afghanistan with the US Army, so he gives his take on what's going on.

On this episode, we welcome Michael Cannon, director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. This is a follow-up to our interview with Dr. Sam Metz (who connected us with Michael) to look at a more libertarian solution to healthcare.

James and Nick welcome Lori Chavez-DeRemer to the show. Lori is the 2-term mayor of Happy Valley and is now running for Congress in Oregon's 5th District. Learn more at lorichavezderemer.com!

James and Nick welcome Dr. Sam Metz who lives in District 36 and met James during his run for State Representative. Sam sits on several boards promoting single-payer healthcare and was kind enough to sit down with us to discuss how we can get more care to more people for less money.

James and Nick welcome Alex Titus and Ben Bowman, hosts of The Oregon Bridge podcast for a collaboration episode. Check out The Oregon Bridge on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts!

James and Nick welcome Kevin Frazier, publisher of The Oregon Way blog. The Oregon Way has published articles from many of our mutual friends and is a centrist publication that tries to show both sides of issues. Visit theoregonway.substack.com to learn more!

James and Nick are joined by Stephen Lloyd, chairman of the Young Republicans of Oregon and until last week chairman of the Multnomah County Republican Party. Unfortunately Stephen was recalled a week before recording for promoting diversity and inclusion on behalf of the GOP.

On this episode James and Nick welcome Deanna Rusch who serves on the Clark County Commission Review Board and is a former Camas, WA city councilor. We discuss what it's like being across the river from Portland and some of the differences between Washington and Oregon politics.

James and Nick welcome Stuart Hall who has been involved in Oregon politics for decades to discuss Ranked Choice Voting. With Republicans in a super-minority in the state of Oregon, I think it's valuable to discuss some alternate methods of counting ballots so that our elected officials more accurately represent the majority of voters.

On this episode we welcome Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis to talk redistricting. Rep. Davis is the vice chair of the house redistricting committee and gives us an inside look at the issues surrounding redistricting during COVID and the blatant gerrymandering that has affected Oregon for the past 20 years.