Oregon GOP taps state Sen. Dallas Heard as party chair
(The Center Square) — The Oregon Republican Party has traded its longtime head for state Sen. Dallas Heard, R-Roseburg, a vocal critic of the state’s health orders.
Heard was elected to lead his party as chair over the weekend. He assumed office in January 2019 replacing state Sen. Jeff Kruse, who resigned in response to sexual harassment allegations in 2018.
He beat incumbent Oregon GOP Chair Bill Currier, who also serves as mayor of Adair Village.
Heard, who was reelected last fall, is no stranger to controversy in the past year.
On December 21, he tore off his face mask on the floor of the state Senate while in session with his peers to protest the state’s health orders. He has also been linked to a group dedicated to harassing public safety inspectors.
Heard is also among several GOP Oregon lawmakers who have fueled right-wing outrage over the 2020 presidential election results as a speaker at a “Stop the Steal” rally at the state Capitol in Salem on Jan. 6.
“I’m just kind of at a loss for words as I look at this Capitol building that is yours, the people’s, and is currently being occupied by a group of elitists,” Heard said to the crowd gathered at the event. “Sadly I’m not sure that it’s all Democrats that are the elitists, frankly. I am a Republican, but I’m an American first and there are some Republicans that need to go.”
Heard will be joined by Josephine County commissioner and former Oregon Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., who will serve as vice chair. State Sen. Dennis Linthicum, R-Klamath Falls, won a spot as Oregon GOP’s treasurer.
Becky Mitts, chief of staff to state Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, remains Oregon GOP’s secretary. Her boss remains under criminal investigation for acting as a doorman to the mob that invaded the Oregon state Capitol building on Dec. 21.
Heard takes the reins of the Oregon GOP as the party faces national criticism for its labeling of the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol as a “false flag” operation engineered by left-wing groups.
The false claim was swiftly condemned by all 23 Oregon House Republicans and state Sens. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River.
According to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, some 6,000 Oregonians left the Republican Party in January. Former gubernatorial nominee Knute Buehler was one of them and is now officially unaffiliated.
The legislative webpage for longtime Republican state Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas, who once threatened state police during a 2019 walkout protest, has not listed a party affiliation for months.
In the past year, the Oregon GOP has seen few gains under the state’s strong Democratic majority. Their two recall campaigns against Democratic Gov. Kate Brown both ended in failure and they currently hold no statewide offices.
The party’s last two walkout protests failed to stop Brown from enacting a cap and trade bill through executive order last year, and Republican lawsuits against her health orders have gone nowhere in court.
Oregon’s next statewide election is scheduled for May 17, 2022.
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