Prineville. Ore. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden continued his spree of town hall meetings Tuesday, with a stop at Crook County High School where several hundred Central Oregon residents showed up to hear the senator speak about the uncharted political waters many Americans feel the country has entered.
The Bulletin reports attendees often expressed fear of a number of issues, rather than one specific thing. Wyden, a Democrat, thanked the crowd, which consisted of about 170 Crook County High School students and several hundred Central Oregon adults.
The stop was the seventh on a tour of 11 town halls. The day before he was in Sisters, and he will hold a meeting in Madras today.
Wyden touched on a variety of topics, including climate change, bipartisan legislation, relations with Russia, health care and immigration.
The new president seems to have provoked an interest in politics for many. Hank Stern, spokesman for Wyden, said the town hall meetings have been well-attended. Monday’s meeting in Sisters filled up with around 700 people, Stern said, and a Sunday event in Eugene brought as many as 2,000. Upon taking the stage, Wyden asked how many in the crowd were attending their first town hall meeting, and the vast majority raised their hands.
Wyden also touched on the preservation of public lands and said he is in some ways encouraged by Trump’s pick to head the Department of the Interior: Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. Wyden said Zinke has a history of promoting access for hunting and fishing, which falls in line with what Wyden called the “Oregon way.”
However, Wyden said Oregonians need to fight to keep air and water clean under an administration that has largely claimed climate change is a myth, or at best a low priority.
When asked about immigration, Wyden responded it was one of the central issues of our time. He told the crowd about his father, who escaped Nazi Germany. Upon landing on America’s shores, he enlisted in the U.S. military to help defend his new country, which garnered applause from the crowd as he proclaimed his stance on tougher immigration policies being pushed by the Trump administration.
“America is a nation of immigrants,” he cheered.
