Is Bend Oregon culturally/politically closer to western or eastern Oregon? (Marion: living, auction)

[esamer90]

I know Bend is technically central Oregon, but does it's cultural and political mentalities reflect the western half of the state or the eastern? Meaning is it more liberal like the west or conservative like the east? If you have specific examples that would be great.

[BendLocal]

Deschutes County is about 50/50 when looking at the Dem/Rep ratio. Dems are gaining faster than Repubs with the population increase, but the fastest growing segment appears to be voters that are not affiliated with a party.

https://www.deschutes.org/sites/defa...07_2018-09.pdf

[Thom52]

Bend has lots of people from both extremes and a few in the middle.

I like it that way, as too many of either extreme makes everything go to crap.

Sort of keeps both sides in check.

Unaffiliated probably sums it up best. I think most people are pretty disgusted with both political parties.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Neither. Eastern Oregon is cattle country. Bend used to be cattle country. You'd see stock trailers with saddled horses parked at the country store and real cowboys, complete with dust, chaps, and spurs.

Not any more. Bend is now a resort area and no more cowboy hats and any cowboy boots you see are new and pretty. All the saddleries have gone out of business. The dairies are all gone. The auction yard was closed down long ago. But there are thirty something golf courses.

Elected politicians in Central Oregon, both state and federal, are Republicans, except the Bend gave a slight nudge to Clinton.

Central Oregon is nothing like the Willamette Valley. Might as well be a separate state.

[Juanii]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Neither. Eastern Oregon is cattle country. Bend used to be cattle country. You'd see stock trailers with saddled horses parked at the country store and real cowboys, complete with dust, chaps, and spurs.

Not any more. Bend is now a resort area and no more cowboy hats and any cowboy boots you see are new and pretty. All the saddleries have gone out of business. The dairies are all gone. The auction yard was closed down long ago. But there are thirty something golf courses.

Elected politicians in Central Oregon, both state and federal, are Republicans, except the Bend gave a slight nudge to Clinton.

Central Oregon is nothing like the Willamette Valley. Might as well be a separate state.

One thing I don't understand is your statement that federal elected officials are Republicans. I wonder about that because of this:
Senators: Jeff Merkley (D), Ron Wyden (D)
Representatives: Peter DeFazio, Greg Walden (R), Earl Blumenauer (D), Suzanne Bonamici (D), Kurt Schrader (D)

Based on this, all except one of Oregon's members of Congress are Democrats.
However, I note that you were speaking of Central Oregon, so you may be right at the county and city level. I looked at the state level and it's pretty evenly divided between the two main parties. Elected Officials for Statewide Offices in Oregon - LWV of Marion and Polk Counties

I didn't look at the county or city level, just state and federal.

Thanks for your observations, though. I learned from your post, enjoyed your description of Oregon as cattle country, and I certainly believe you when you say Central Oregon is predominantly Republican.

[backcountryjack]

Here's a map of the 2016 election by voting precinct from the NY Times. Just scroll or type in the area you're interested in. As the map shows, there's quite a bit of blue in Bend, but it gets more red as you go east in town. In general, the west side of Bend is solid blue, up to about Purcell/Pettigrew streets (Pilot Butte area), then gets more pink as you go east. East of 27th St. it starts to get more red.



https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-121.269/80232

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by backcountryjack

Here's a map of the 2016 election by voting precinct from the NY Times. Just scroll or type in the area you're interested in. As the map shows, there's quite a bit of blue in Bend, but it gets more red as you go east in town. In general, the west side of Bend is solid blue, up to about Purcell/Pettigrew streets (Pilot Butte area), then gets more pink as you go east. East of 27th St. it starts to get more red.


https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...-121.269/80232

That map is Trump vs Clinton which is different than Rep vs Dem. At least based on my group of friends.

[backcountryjack]

Ok, in what way does it differ? Looking at the map, and the shaded areas it shows, I'd say it corresponds fairly well to what I've seen living here many years, at least in a general sense. Granted, the 2016 election was not as typical as some.