ORP Platform Convention Report

Delegates representing 30 Oregon Counties showed up Friday and Saturday, September 26th–27th, 2025 to the Oregon Republican Party (ORP) State Platform Convention, held at the lovely Mt Hood Oregon Resort in Welches, in order to amend an existing Party Platform (or to adopt a new one). 

In May, a decision was reached which would limit the size of the Platform to eight pages only and strip it of any “policy-”related language.

Prior to the Convention, ORP Chair Connie Whelchel appointed an Ad Hoc Platform Drafting Committee headed by Jon Wright (Linn County) to rewrite and truncate the Platform down to five sections (in place of the earlier Platform’s 18 planks, including policy directives). Counties were invited to attend a series of five section review sessions through online video conferencing where they could suggest changes, some of which the Committee considered. The resulting document would be proposed as the initial basis for deliberation at the upcoming Convention. 

Friday morning, Delegates signed in with IDs to receive badges, voting cards, and Agenda before their seating at the floor. (Multnomah County had the fullest and largest delegation.) After ceremonies and announcements, Chair pro tem Dan Grimm (Mult. Co.) presided and led deliberations. 

First on the Agenda was adopting Convention Rules (CR), which determined the process of deliberation and handling of amendments. The CR also required the Platform Drafting Committee’s draft as the initial basis for amendment. Counties debated for almost two-and-a-half hours over the CR. First, Mult. Co. motioned to amend the CR so the Convention would start amending from the existing 2023 Platform (which some considered more inclusive of County participants or stated issues more definitely). 

After that amendment failed adoption, Washington County tried to ease participation by removing the CR requiring all amendments be in writing, signed by the motioner, with a signed second by a delegate from another County. This motion failed, but Joanna Harbour (CD3 nominee) succeeded in getting the requirement for a signed second removed. Wash. Co. succeeded in loosing the time limits per argument from only one minute to two. After this, the Convention moved to adopt the CR without further discussion. 

Deliberation went slow in the Convention’s general conference format. Formal rules of amendment were followed, and out of five sections, only the Preamble and the first two sections were touched by Friday’s end. Time was allotted to extend and conclude the Convention on the following Saturday morning. 

After ceremonies and announcements on Saturday, a new Chair pro tem, Rep. Kevin Mannix, started proceedings without a lull, but to a different effect. Apparently pressured to get through the remaining Platform sections and adjourn on time for the start of the State Central Committee meeting, Mannix did not get to every delegate waiting in line hoping to propose their amendment, and sections were closed in succession without further discussion or debate. 

As the Convention was driven to a close, Counties whispered the possibility of walking out. A number of delegates were unhappy with the manner in which the Chair pro tem conducted proceedings on Saturday, complicated with frustrations over the general format of the Convention. Douglas County proposed walking out with Mult. Co. After mulling it over, Mult. Co. announced to the Convention their intent to walk prior to the formal adoption of the Platform. Delegates who walked out left the floor quietly, calmly and convened in the adjoining room. 

Word is not final whether the 50 Delegates from 11 Counties were able to deny the necessary quorum, since the ORP Credentials Chair Jon Wright was without a report for the Convention at the time of the Platform’s adoption.

After the Convention’s adjournment, two Delegates (Linn Co.) approached the walkout Delegates in the adjoining room. A physical altercation resulted where one member put his hand on another’s neck. Police were called, but no charges were sought. (See ORP’s official statement here.)

The State Central Committee then convened with a working lunch to conduct regular Party business, including the adoption of the Convention’s Platform. The Committee made the Platform’s adoption a special order, moving it ahead of other items on the Agenda, and the Platform was adopted (in whatever state the Convention left it).

Unfortunately, the Resort pressured the Committee to recess early due to the aforementioned violence. (Apparently, the ORP is no longer welcome there and must seek a new venue for future meetings.)

When the Committee reconvenes, we will pick up the Agenda where we left off, with the adopting of May’s Minutes—which records the decision to limit the Platform’s size and strip it of any “policy-“related language.