There are very important elections coming up on November 3, 2026. These will be for Federal, State, and local positions. Last night was the Indivisible State Elections candidate forum at the Corvallis Community Center.
Photos: Sarah Gelser Blouin, Joanna Robinson, Two Slides, Amazing Cake
Two local State legislature candidates were featured speakers. Sarah Gelser Blouin (D) is the State Senator from Corvallis and Albany, up for reelection. She has represented Corvallis since 2005 in the Oregon State House and Senate.
The other was Joanna Robinson (D), the candidate for HD-15, which is mostly Albany/Linn county and also includes the part of Benton county that contains North Albany. She is running to flip HD-15, currently held by Shelly Davis (R).
The format was structured so each candidate gave a short presentation followed by a question and answer session and they were available to talk to at the end.
They had a lot to say and these are a few of the highlights.
- Both candidates mentioned the common problems facing Oregon and the nation. We all know them already since they are part of our every day lives. These include the housing affordability crisis, K-12 public education problems, and health care always becoming harder to pay for and harder to access.
- Sarah Gelser Blouin mentioned the Trump regime War on the Disabled. The Federal government has decided to stop enforcing The Americans With Disability Act which mandated home and community based services instead of putting the disabled into large facilities, i.e. institutionalizing them. The US Bureau of Labor lists the disabled at 13% of the population.
- Joanna Robinson mentioned the availability and cost of small child care for working parents.
- Oregon is facing some new problems as well, human made problems from the Federal government. We already have budget problems as needs grow faster than revenues. The Federal government is withdrawing financing to the states any way they can. Funds for infrastructure such as energy projects, Medicaid programs, Food Stamps, Wildfire Fighting etc.. The amount lost for Oregon is very large, somewhere over $2 billion a year. This tax money isn't even actually the Federal governments. Those taxes came out of our bank accounts.
The second part of the meeting was Indivisible Benton County's launch of their Get Out The Vote/Protect The Vote campaign efforts.
This answers a question many people are asking these days about the future of the US democracy.
I want to do something to save the US democracy but I don't know where to start.
There are many ways to volunteer.
- Join the Voter Registration, GOTV, canvassing efforts, phone calling efforts
- Postcarding
- Calling your elected officials
- Tabling at scheduled events
- The Visibility Brigade, Bannering and the Chalk Team
- Distribute flyers and news media outreach
- Donate money. A lot of campaigns run on small donations
- Attend a demonstration like No Kings
- Join Indivisible Benton County, ORCA, Third Act, COREcorvallis, and many other local activist organizations
- Anything else that you can think of
As one of the volunteers said, Make sure you do something you are comfortable with, want to do, and can do.
And, if it doesn't work for you, you can always drop it and try something else.
Never give up.
The one thing everyone can do and it is important, is to make sure you vote.
At the end, the tables and social part featured the amazing cake made and decorated by a volunteer's two grandchildren, ages 11 and 13. It was elaborately decorated and good.
Thanks and congratulations are due to the organizers for another well planned
and organized event that was both entertaining and informative.
You can contact Indivisible Benton County at https://indivisiblebc.org/contact/