{"id":24769,"date":"2026-05-28T14:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24769"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:45:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:45:51","slug":"merkley-reflects-on-over-600-town-hall-meetings-held-across-oregon-in-new-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-reflects-on-over-600-town-hall-meetings-held-across-oregon-in-new-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Merkley reflexiona sobre las m\u00e1s de 600 reuniones p\u00fablicas celebradas en todo Oreg\u00f3n en un nuevo video."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, OR \u2013 Each year, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley holds a town hall in every one of Oregon\u2019s 36 counties. During the annual events, Merkley hears directly from Oregonians about the challenges \u2013 large and small \u2013 that they face and about their ideas for moving Oregon and the country forward. Merkley has released a new video reflecting on over 600 town hall meetings titled, \u201cOn the Road: Town Halls with Senator Jeff Merkley.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"On the Road \u2014 Merkley on Town Halls and the Oregon Way\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZOYcuS0w0PU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><u><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZOYcuS0w0PU\">Watch Merkley\u2019s reflections on over 600 town hall meetings HERE<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cI hold town halls in each county in Oregon every year because it&#8217;s so important for someone who represents the state to actually listen to people in every corner of the state,\u201d <\/strong>says Senator Merkley in the video.<strong> \u201cAt the town halls, you get a real sense of what\u2019s on people\u2019s minds. And it&#8217;s a real chance to understand what people are hearing, what they\u2019re thinking.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>During the video, Merkley reflects on the importance of elected leaders standing in front of their constituents to hear directly from them. Merkley outlines the importance of the \u201cOregon Way,\u201d respectfully listening to those you may disagree with to allow everyone to lay out their perspectives in an effective manner. During the interview, Merkley shares moments from over 600 town halls that have stuck with him and celebrates some of the 560 community-initiated projects he has secured, totaling over $845 million in federal investments coming back to Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the full video of Merkley\u2019s reflection on the importance of hosting town hall meetings and the \u201cOregon Way\u201d by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/ZOYcuS0w0PU\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>. A transcription of the video is available below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">&#8220;On the Road: Town Halls with Senator Jeff Merkley\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Transcription<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY: <\/strong>The joy of being in the forest. The joy of finding out what\u2019s around the next bend. When we used to drive up and down Oregon when I was small, I would say, \u201cHey, can we pull over at this place and hike up to the top of that mountain?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the joy that I didn\u2019t anticipate in serving as a Senator and having this plan to go to town halls was that I would get to drive throughout the entire landscape of Oregon, 300 miles from north to south, 400 miles from east to west. And just keep seeing these incredible parts of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hold town halls in each county in Oregon every year because it&#8217;s so important for someone who represents the state to actually listen to people in every corner of the state. The issues are different in every part. At the town halls, you get a real sense of what\u2019s on people\u2019s minds. And it&#8217;s a real chance to understand what people are hearing, what they\u2019re thinking. And of course, every year the issues change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Very few House or Senate members hold town halls. And they view a town hall as a problem. I have a very different view. I think it\u2019s incumbent on elected officials to directly hear from folks. Yes, we get phone calls. Yes, we get letters. But it\u2019s so much more powerful to actually stand in front of a group and say, \u201cWhat are you all thinking?\u201d And give everybody a chance to make their point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I note that very few town halls are held across the country because we have become so divided. But then we\u2019ve made it work in Oregon because we have the Oregon Way&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MERKLEY (at town hall):<\/strong> \u201c&#8230;which is if somebody\u2019s speaking and you profoundly disagree with them, in fact they infuriate you, still, please be very respectful. Let them express their point of view. And when it\u2019s your turn, we\u2019ll do the same. And that way everyone can lay out their viewpoints in an effective manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AUDIENCE MEMBER to Merkley:<\/strong> \u201cAnd we are very concerned about&#8230;\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>MERKLEY: <\/strong>And so, it\u2019s such a rare event to be able to go to town halls in blue and red counties and say, \u201cEveryone come and make their point and let\u2019s hear what you\u2019re thinking about.\u201d And all kinds of powerful things come up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think about the 100-year-old woman who is still teaching swimming classes at Roseburg at the YMCA. I think about the folks who have suffered from the fires and people came and talked about running for their lives, not knowing if they could get out of the reach of the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But sometimes the stories are a celebration. For years, I\u2019ve been working to help across the state community-initiated projects where the community says: \u201cThis is our top priority. We desperately need childcare. We definitely have a top priority as a mental health unit.\u201d And we\u2019ve had over 400 projects delivered, scattered all throughout the state. So, it\u2019s important to pause and remember those moments as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I often end my town halls by saying, \u201cWith all the weight that we feel, and the comments you\u2019ve all made today reflect a lot of challenges. There\u2019s one thing that\u2019s still true and we live in the best paradise to be found on the planet, and that\u2019s something we can always celebrate. And we can always restore our soul by hitting the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, OR \u2013 Each year, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley holds a town hall in every one of Oregon\u2019s 36 counties. During the annual events, Merkley hears directly from Oregonians about the challenges \u2013 large and small \u2013 that they face and about their ideas for moving Oregon and the country forward. Merkley has released [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-24769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-delivering-for-oregon"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Merkley Reflects on Over 600 Town Hall Meetings Held Across Oregon in New Video - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-reflects-on-over-600-town-hall-meetings-held-across-oregon-in-new-video\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merkley Reflects on Over 600 Town Hall Meetings Held Across Oregon in New Video - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PORTLAND, OR \u2013 Each year, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley holds a town hall in every one of Oregon\u2019s 36 counties. 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