U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.) will make an appearance in Philomath at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1 as part of a town hall tour in the region.
The Benton County Town Hall with Merkley and Hoyle will take place in Philomath High School’s auditorium. The pair will head to Philomath after holding a Lincoln County Town Hall beginning at noon at Oregon Coast Community College in Newport. Afterward, only Merkley will appear at a Linn County Town Hall at 5:30 p.m. at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany.
The three town halls Saturday are part of Merkley’s annual tour of Oregon — a plan that includes community conversations in each of the state’s 36 counties.
“There is nothing like holding town halls directly in the communities where Oregonians live and work to get to the heart of the ideas, issues and priorities that matter most to them,” Merkley said through a press release.
Merkley said he’s held more than 570 town halls since becoming a U.S. senator, commenting that the appearances “provide respectful, safe spaces for people to express their unique points of view and open folks up to new perspectives — essential to healing divisions and moving our state forward together.”
Merkley has served in the U.S. Senate since 2009. In 2023, Hoyle succeeded Peter DeFazio as a U.S. representative.