U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley brought his latest town hall tour to Philomath on Sunday afternoon, fielding questions from an estimated 750 people at the local high school about immigration enforcement, federal authoritarianism concerns and Oregon priorities.
The Oregon Democrat, now in his 17th year in the Senate, said the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Donald Trump’s authoritarian takeover of the country are the top issues that he hears at town halls.
Gallery: Sen. Jeff Merkley Town Hall (Jan. 18, 2026)
A collection of photos from Sen. Jeff Merkley’s Benton County Town Hall at Philomath High School on Sunday.
“Those are just overwhelmingly what’s on people’s minds,” Merkley told the Philomath News in an interview shortly before his Benton County Town Hall. “And along with that may come questions about Venezuela, there may come questions on Greenland. But if this follows my other town halls, ICE and authoritarianism will dominate.”
Merkley acknowledged the challenge of balancing immediate controversies with Oregon’s long-term priorities, saying the administration’s strategy appears designed to overwhelm.
“The strategy of the administration is to flood the zone, which means there’s new issues every single day,” Merkley said, citing news Sunday morning of 1,500 Alaska military personnel being told to prepare for deployment to Minnesota. “That means the president might invoke the Insurrection Act and you can’t ignore those day-to-day developments.”
Despite the polarized political climate, Merkley said he continues to find opportunities for bipartisan cooperation on specific issues.
“You will be much more successful if you have partners across the aisle,” he said, citing examples of working with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on hemp legalization and with Sen. Ted Cruz on facial recognition surveillance concerns.
The senator expressed concern about federal grants and programs being delayed or canceled by the administration, noting that his office is working to restore funding. He said he expects to secure passage of more than 100 community initiative projects in 2026 after losing a similar number when spending bills failed to pass last year.
“That ranges from help with daycare to help with clean water, wastewater treatment,” Merkley said. “Sometimes they’re transportation grants, sometimes they’re energy grants but whatever the community has identified as their top priority, we fight for it.”
Merkley said he had been contemplating retirement but changed his mind as concerns about constitutional threats grew.
“I wasn’t going to run again and then as Trump started shredding the Constitution and I was telling folks this is an incredibly perilous moment, maybe the most perilous for our constitution since the Civil War, my wife Mary and I looked at each other and said, ‘we can’t tell people that this is the most perilous moment and they have to be deeply engaged and then walk away,’” he said. “So I’m signing up, if reelected, for six more years.”
Merkley came to the town hall prepared with handouts, including one that offered “The Ten Rules of Trump’s Authoritarian Playbook.”
“These are the strategies that are being used to destroy democracies from the inside and Trump’s pursuing all of them,” Merkley said. “It’s not some imagination, it’s not an exaggeration, it is the reality. They’re doing all of these strategies, including using the military to suppress dissent and rigging the next election.”
Merkley’s staff also handed out “The Oregon Treasures Quest,” which includes “the coolest places in each of our counties” and offers a challenge that could lead to an invitation to a “treasure quest party,” he said. Benton County’s page spotlights Marys Peak.
During the town hall’s question-and-answer session, Merkley fielded questions about challenges with prioritizing issues, Department of Homeland Security budgeting, government funding, bipartisan cooperation, engaging young people, illegal actions by the president and Department of Justice, threats to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the health-care system, use of the Insurrection Act, the president’s health, protecting people of color and the Epstein files.
Merkley noted that his town hall approach has changed significantly since his early years in the Senate, when Tea Party activists dominated gatherings outside urban areas with concerns about health-care reform. Now, he said, attendees are predominantly motivated by opposition to the Trump administration.
Philomath Mayor Christopher McMorran shared a few positive comments about the community to the overflow crowd before introducing the senator. Before taking questions, Merkley put the spotlight on Nancy’s Food Pantry and the work that Philomath Community Services is doing in the community. Karen Rowe, the pantry’s program manager, and Sharon Thornberry, PCS executive director, were on hand and shared a few details of the operation.
“Sen. Wyden and myself are the only senators who do town halls like this,” Merkley said, explaining his approach to maintaining civil discourse. “If you don’t like what somebody is saying, you still respectfully listen to them even if they make you angry, you listen to them and we have everyone else do the same when it’s your turn. I refer to it as the ‘Oregon way.'”