Oregon’s gubernatorial race has thrust the state into the national spotlight. With three candidates, Republican Christine Drazan, Democrat Tina Kotek and Betsy Johnson, unaffiliated, it’s a tight race.

The Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism, a nonprofit supporting professional news publications in rural areas, partnered with students from University of Oregon’s Catalyst Journalism Project to provide a platform to give voters a chance to voice their hopes and concerns in all regions of the state. The project focuses on the lessor heard voices: young and rural.

Stories representing voices in Central and Southern Oregon have been published by news outlets.

Eastern Oregon voters from Baker, Union and Umatilla counties were asked about their concerns and hopes rather than their political affiliation or particular candidates to have an open dialogue. Voters from Baker City to Pendleton to La Grande spoke to reporters about what their friends, family and neighbors feel would make Oregon and the U.S. a better place for all.

“I would really like to see people start looking at the center view instead,” said Pat Owens, owner of PnD Knives and Sharpening Services, La Grande. “I was taught that the right and left line are not a line, it is a circle. When you get far right and far left it’s all the same thing.”

In this region, voters expressed concerns for education, city expansion and a general lack of infrastructure and resources. Just more than 43.3% of the 48,114 registered voters are nonaffiliated; 32.3% are Republicans and 17.8% are Democrats.

Baker County, formerly known for its gold rush economy, is now an established agricultural community. Just more than 93.7% of the 16,847 residents are white, while 5.3% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. The county’s median age is 48.2, according to the latest census data.

In Baker County 15.8% of the 12,660 registered voters are Democrats. Republicans encompass almost 50% while 31.6% are nonaffiliated.

Civil political discourse

The divide in civil and political discourse has led many to the conclusion that highlighting each other’s similarities will provide a platform for progress rather than sowing divisions.

“The left and the right, we’re more alike than we’d like to admit it,” said Chelsa Mitchell, 36, of Baker City.

Mitchell has lived in rural Oregon throughout her life and moved back to Baker City 12 years ago.

Mitchell, the owner of Mad Habit Boutique, wishes to see more growth and diversity in Baker City.

“I would love to see a more diverse population,” she said. “I have got two little boys, and I don’t want them to only see people that look like them, and only be around people that talk like them and act like them.”

Mitchell said she believes politicians should prioritize creating educational safe spaces for rural youth. The lack of funding and infrastructure in Baker County has reinforced the growing sentiment of a lack of attention from the state government. She said that “common sense” is the first step to fostering progress for Oregon.

“Remember our humanity,” she said. “Less of a focus on who’s right and who’s wrong in politics. I would love to see us come together and realize how much we do see eye to eye.”

Urban vs. rural divide

For unresolved issues rural Oregonians are seeking to change, the urban-rural divide is the common denominator. People spoke strongly about bridging this gap as the first step to facilitating discussions about deeper issues of education or infrastructure.

“Our votes do not matter,” said Brooke Armstrong, 44, of Pendleton. “It’s the Portland area that has all the say in voting, we really have no say.”

Armstrong has lived in Umatilla County her entire life. She now operates the Underground Tours as executive director, adjacent to her grandmother’s Western vintage store, Working Girls Antiques, off Main Street.

As a business owner and local resident, Armstrong has witnessed a recent influx in the homeless population that corresponds to the region’s overall lack of funding and mental health support.

Armstrong said she believes the issues facing Pendleton residents can be felt throughout the state. She said the only things she can truly attend to are, “my surroundings and my business and my home; that’s all I care about.”

In anticipation of the midterm election, Armstrong explained, “it’s not worth my time and energy because whatever happens is going to happen, and I just have to adapt.”

When discussing possible candidates, Armstrong said she feels more hopeful with someone who can understand, “all areas of Oregon,” adding, “relating and being open minded to all the areas you’re taking care of is the biggest thing.”

The tone of hopelessness and lack of political recognition for themselves carries across Umatilla, Baker and Union counties. Residents from Pendleton to La Grande are seeking means to bridge a dialogue between urban and rural Oregon.

The polarization of rural voices feeling unheard by those in the metropolitan areas of Portland, Salem and Eugene has formed an altered view of the demographics for these differing regions of the state.

Judith Berger, 47, works for the Pendleton Underground Tours and serves on the Travel Pendleton board. Originally from Redmond, she has lived rurally her whole life. The slower, manageable pace of a rural lifestyle is something she describes as “beautiful.”

“The expectation that the rural citizens are thinking in the same way as the urban (residents) and it feels like there is almost a negative judgment,” she said. “People say we’re out here, we’re podunk, we’re ignorant, and that is certainly true of some people and people everywhere.”

A lack of misrepresentation and political bias in mainstream media has caused a flood of information that has distorted the narrative of rural residents.

“There is a fear of speaking up because you are villainized, and it’s not just one side or the other,” Berger said.

Residents of Baker City shared similar perspectives on the issues facing their county and their state. After working in the Social Security services, Lesa Bunten, 61, recently retired and now helps around at the Royal Artisan. She said Oregon’s diverse array of regional needs and contrasting lifestyles challenges rural traditions and livelihoods, and family values and education superseded the urbanization of Baker County.

“I think that for our people, we want to protect our way of life,” she said. “We want to be recognized that it’s OK if we’re not hustling and bustling for that 8 to 5 job.”

In gaining a better understanding of the general population of the state, Bunten said urban Oregon needs to “understand that we are vibrant. We are part of the state of Oregon.”

The lack of political attention to the region also heightened local divisions that ring true across the county.

“I wish so wholeheartedly that we could get off of ‘this’ political party as a nation,” Bunten said. “We have got to start healing.”

Fleeing the region

A former tourism guide for La Grande, Colleen MacLeod also was a Union County commissioner for 12 years. She runs Joe Beans Coffee with her husband, Al.

“I’m still not considered a local by some,” said

MacLeod, who is fervently proud of her town after having lived in the area since 1971.

MacLeod said locals and youth in particular in Union County are suffering from a lack of employment and aren’t receiving equal funding compared to urban regions.

“If it’s not taking all of the natural resources away or making it harder and legislating hardships, people leave,” she said.

MacLeod said candidates that can embody traditional values such as faith and law and order will provide a brighter future for Oregon.

“We need someone who respects people who work hard and particularly the people who provide food because the agricultural community is taking a beating right now,” she said. “Growers are losing their farms.”

Infrastructure

Kate Reid, 39, who owns Royal Artisan in Baker City, said the community needs more low income housing.

“We’re having issues with our growth from people moving in from big cities here, and we don’t have the natural resources to sustain that,” she said.

While the influx of people moving in inspires a hopeful future of growth that can yield prosperity for their community and help businesses boom, Reid noted more efforts are needed to support new residents. And she said the education system needs more support because it is the foundation of the future.

“We have to focus on kids because it’s only going to get worse with this generation being an online generation,” Reid said. “It’s really hard to balance work, life, play when you’re online all the time and when you’re teaching online.”

Funding for education and infrastructure were dominant issues among residents in Baker, Union and Umatilla counties. Alongside these pressing topics, some expressed a concern over the growth in political hostility arising in their towns.

Sarah Wynn, 38, of Baker City, has been working at Bella Main Street Market for the past four years and hopes to see a more civil and progressive dialogue among residents.

“If I could change anything, it would be to make it so that people over here see that we all need to work together,” she said. “It’s not necessarily them against us. We can talk, we can participate, you know?”

In the past four years, Wynn has witnessed downtown Baker City develop as new businesses have moved onto Main Street, attracting more tourists and locals alike to the downtown area. The recent political clash between tourists from urban areas and rural residents has brought to light the ongoing divide that Oregonians face.

“If I could wave a wand, whatever the split is, between the east side and west side, it would be to change the way people talk to each other,” she said. “There is so much resentment towards progression and anything they feel is coming from Salem and isn’t from here.”

She said Baker County, and rural Oregon, need a candidate who can “look at Oregon holistically, as a whole unit for the greater benefit.”

A sense of pride

There is a scarcity of individuals who express pride in the condition of the state. The abundance of recreation and the communal camaraderie of “knowing your neighbors” provides reasons to be prideful, but do not outweigh their discontent with Oregon as a whole.

“I’ve always been proud to have been born here, especially in Eastern Oregon. We have a good balance of hard work and play and respect for the outdoors,” said Andy Berglund, an employee at Bella Main Street Market in Baker City.

With historical buildings dressing each corner of Baker City, minutes away from the mountains, there are endless sights to see. The sheer beauty of rural living is something that many in Baker County noted as a reason they steer away from living in an urban area.

“(Oregon) contains multitudes. There are lots of things that happen on the west side of the state that doesn’t have the east side of the state’s best interest in mind,” Berglund said, adding that a candidate must value all viewpoints of those in the state.

Oregon voter voices often go unamplified because the state is not a major player on the national stage due to its strong democratic tilt driven by the metropolitan areas. To capture the concerns and hopes of the least heard voter voices — youth and those living in rural areas — EO Media Group partnered with students from the University of Oregon’s Catalyst Journalism Project to provide a platform for their views in all regions of the state.