The Rational Republican

I'll be honest, this was one of my favorite podcasts in a while. Elizabeth is super smart and we could have kept the conversation going for hours, but were limited by other activities at Dorchester.

Christian Honl is running for State Representative in HD32 on the northern Oregon coast. He is seeking to unseat the incumbent turncoat who ran as a Republican but re registered as a Democrat after voting for the controversial Transpiration Tax.

James and Nick welcome Andrew Morrison back to the podcast to talk about affordability and running for office in disincorporated Damascus.

James and Nick sit down to talk about the recent ICE killings and the public fallout

Kicking off a new "season" of TRR as we get into Primary season, James and Nick discuss the foreign policy decisions executed in the first few weeks of 2026.

James and Nick welcome a couple folks from Western Justice, the NRA for the "western" way of life. A very different vibe from the last episode

Posting these out of order because the LCR's have an event on May 10th we'd like to plug. The Log Cabin Republicans are members of the LGBT community who hold conservative principles. Many say that "coming out" as Republican was harder than coming out as gay. Listen to their story here.

Before James was a podcast host and small business owner, he was an Army officer and frequently in charge of handling classified materials. So given the recent article from The Atlantic, we decided to give an insider view of how classification works.

A crossover episode with the Crosstabs podcast. We talk about the ORP elections that just took place, what it's like to run a podcast, and some insider baseball on what life is like in the Capitol.

Jerry Cummings is a pastor and Republican mega-volunteer running for ORP Chair in spring 2025. Win or lose, I'm sure we haven't heard the last from Jerry!

In 2020, "fake news" was mostly a conservative problem where people would share fictitious articles on facebook, and they would go viral. in 2025 if seems that the roles have been reversed, and the Left are believing any piece of media that confirms their bias. James and Nick discuss.

Part 2 of our live panel at Eastern Oregon University. Since this was recorded live, some of the audio is messy but still a great conversation.

James and Nick speak take part in a panel discussion at Eastern Oregon University about different topics that impact our political world. Part 1

President Elect Trump's cabinet picks have been making headlines and (predictably) those on the left have decried them as the worst picks in the history of the universe. We welcome Jeff Stone to go over some of our favorite winners and losers from the incoming president's cabinet.

James and Nick welcome two Young Republican extraordinaires to the podcast, Calvin Bennett and Tanner Elliott, to discuss the 2024 election results.

Rep Diehl (pronounced "deal") represents HD17 southeast of Salem.

Aimee Reiner is a long-time activist who got started in her political career during the COVID lockdowns, caring for her special-needs son.

John Masterman is a small business owner running for the State House in HD 48 which includes Damascus, SE Portland, and parts of Gresham

Paul Drechsler (pronounced Drexler) is running for HD50 in east Multnomah County. This is a D+4 district and very winnable, and Paul is the guy to do it.

James and Nick welcome Bri Hall, the only registered Independent at a Young Republicans debate watch party, to give a reaction to the September 10th presidential debate.

Jake Mead is a small business owner in HIllsboro, running for City Council. I (James) have known Jake for several years and he's the real deal, be sure not to skip this one!

Andrew Morrison is a former alleged city councilor for the City of Damascus, OR and most recently a candidate for HD48. He was unsuccessful in his Primary, but I don't think we've seen the end of Andrew

Terry Tipsord has been an involved member of his community for over 40 years and now he's running for HD49 to continue serving in the Legislature.

Darcey Edwards is a life-long resident of Washington County and is running for House District 31. We talk land use and how Oregon can be more business-friendly.

On this episode we welcome back Frank Patka who has experienced the criminal justice system first hand, and is working to help other formerly incarcerated people integrate back into society.

Dave Drotzmann is the current mayor of Hermiston and candidate for Senate District 29.

On the second episode of our Eastern Oregon trip, we speak with Brent Clapp who is the owner of EOAlive Media and candidate for county commission.

James and Nick welcome Calvin Bennett on the first of two Eastern Oregon podcasts. Calvin is the ASB President at Eastern Oregon University, and a Young Republican.

Commissioner Ben West returns to talk about Clackamas County and the ORP Platform Convention which he attended recently.

On this episode we welcome 2 guests: Alex McHaddad and Reagan Knopp. Alex is the former treasurer of the Oregon Republican Party and has part Palestinian heritage. Reagan is a political consultant and twitter personality with some experience in Israel.

Andy Huwe joins James and Nick to talk about his run for Senate District 29. We end up talking infrastructure and good governance in addition to issues facing northeast Oregon.

In this episode we take a break from your normally scheduled political podcasting to talk about the dissolution of the PAC-12 Conference. Jeff Stone joins us as this will be his 51st season making the trek from Portland to Autzen Stadium.

Commissioner Nash is currently serving as County Commissioner for Wallowa County, he is the President of the Cattlemen's Association, and he has announced his candidacy for Senate District 29. Learn more at votetoddnash.com

James and Nick welcome Tony McDonald who is intimately involved in Texas GOP politics and we had a fun conversation comparing and contrasting a Blue state with a Red state.

James and Nick welcome Eric and Bernard from Citizens Climate Lobby, a climate group who are "ok with nuclear" and don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

James and Nick discuss the pending legislation to give all homeless persons $1,000 per month and UBI in general. Also, how to fix Portland's myriad problems.

In the wake of Gov. Brown commuting the sentence of many death-row inmates, we brought on Xander Almeda to talk about her decision and about the death penalty in general.

Stephen Lloyd is the chair of the Young Republicans of Oregon, former chair of the Multnomah County Republican Party, and nearly 10-year veteran of the oil & gas industry. In this episode we talk with Stephen about fracking, nuclear, and the environmental impact of energy extraction.

Ben West is the recently elected Clackamas County Commissioner. He currently serves as a city councilor for the city of Wilsonville and was the rising-star award recipient at Dorchester 2022.

James and Nick welcome back Alex McHaddad, treasurer of the Oregon GOP and friend of the pod to talk about the November 2022 election and how it went for Republicans. Disappointed with the Governor's race? We are too, but there is reason to be optimistic about Oregon voters' choices in this past election.

Jason Fields, the Republican candidate for House District 26 is our favorite kind of candidate to have on this podcast: moderate, thoughtful, and decisive. Some might call him a "rational" Republican (cue rimshot). Nick couldn't make it this time, so pretend he made a couple TV references and you should be good to go.

George Carrillo is a former candidate for Governor in Oregon who has publicly endorsed Republican Christine Drazan. We talk about why he made that decision as well as some inside baseball from a long-time Executive Branch employee.

James and Nick welcome former Representative and former Deputy Secretary of State Rich Vial to talk about his run for Senate District 18 as a non-affiliated candidate. We also talk Betsy Johnson and how to mend the political divide in Oregon.

Jeff Heflrich joins James and Nick as the Republican candidate for State House district 52. Jeff is a Veteran, former police officer, and held this seat from 2017-2019.

James and Nick welcome Tim LeMaster, a fellow Veteran who is running for House District 43. Tim is passionate about making his community better and helping those in his district.

James and Nick talk about the fallout from Dobbs v. Jackson which overturned Roe v. Wade.

James and Nick welcome Kori Haynes who is the Republican candidate for HD39 and her guest Courtneigh Swerzbin to talk about the the race and what's going on in our public schools. Bonus: what do David Duke and PPS have in common? Skip to the 41 minute mark for the answer.

CAPT Wooldridge is a 27-year Navy Veteran who commanded the Blue Angels on three separate occasions. He is currently a prolific public speaker and in 2018 made an attempt at running for Governor of Oregon.

James and Nick dig deep into the election results from the May 2022 Primary election. Political nerds welcome!

Cheri Helt is a small business owner and former State Legislator who is running for the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) which is probably the least-known statewide elected office, but as with any office, the position has a meaningful impact on our lives.