SALEM, Ore. — A walkout by most Republican members of the Oregon Senate reached a fourth straight day Saturday, delaying action by the majority Democrats on bills on gun safety, abortion rights and gender-affirming health care.
The GOP’s boycott prevented a quorum, and Senate President Rob Wagner adjourned the body until Sunday morning.
Republican lawmakers have used walkouts in the past, but if they continue to stay away they’ll be risking their jobs. Last November, voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that bans lawmakers with 10 unexcused absences from running for reelection.
The boycott comes as several statehouses around the nation, including in Montana and Tennessee, have become battlegrounds between conservatives and liberals. Oregon has increasingly been divided between liberal population centers like Portland and Eugene and its mostly conservative rural areas.
