‘Young people deserve to have a future’: U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum and Sen. Ron Wyden host energetic town hall in Oregon City

Published 4:09 pm Tuesday, March 18, 2025

It was a packed house for U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum’s first Clackamas County town hall since taking office in January.

The event, held at Clackamas Community College’s Oregon City campus on Sunday, March 16, attracted 1,600 people who filled bleachers, sat on the floor and leaned against the walls of the Randall Hall gym.

Bynum was joined by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who has held an annual town hall meeting in every Oregon county since he was elected in 1996.

“Thank you all for being here today. I love a good town hall. I love a good parade. I love a good Sunday dinner. It is really important that all of you all are here today. The more that I hear from you Oregonians, the better job I can do fighting for you and representing you,” Bynum said at the beginning of the event.

Wyden and Bynum were all smiles when they greeted the crowd and Oregon City Mayor Denyse McGriff, who introduced both politicians and selected community members to ask questions.

Queries covered the future of Social Security, federal funding for wildfire prevention in Oregon and what’s next for the Democratic party.

“Young people deserve to have a future in this country,” said Rep. Bynum, responding to a question about economic opportunities.

Wyden responded assertively to a question about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting at the White House earlier this year.

“My dad said, ‘Never look the other way when you’re dealing with a bully or an authoritarian,’” said Wyden.

Some constituents at the event expressed an air of helplessness in the face of so many big changes out of Washington, D.C.

“I want to personally tell you that I believe that everything ultimately is going to be OK. It doesn’t feel that way, I agree,” said Bynum. “Because all of you are filling this auditorium, I believe that we live in the greatest country on this earth. I believe we will not let it fall. I believe that Trump will not win.”

At one point, Wyden said that he felt that he couldn’t name Republican colleagues for fear that “MAGA world” would go after them if the public knew they were collaborating with Democrats.

“So what?” shouted some in the audience.

“That’s a good question,” said Wyden. “We want to bring them over. I want you to know that I’m spending a chunk of my time every single day trying to talk to Republicans.”

Bynum referenced that she brought Oregonian Liz Crandall to President Donald Trump’s March 4 joint congressional address. Crandall is a former United States Forest Service Ranger from Bend who recently lost her job as part of the Trump administration’s continued onslaught against federal workers. .

“Cutting natural resources management right now is really a bad idea, because now is when we do so much of the work on prescribed burns,” Wyden said after the town hall. “I learned about it over the years being out with fire crews and it’s working.”

After a town hall in Linn County in the early afternoon and the second town hall in Oregon City that evening, Rep. Bynum had a packed day of town halls.

“(For) young people, the thing that matters to them most is agency,” said Bynum after the town hall. “That’s like a fancy way of saying: You get to control the shots when you’re in the voting booth, so to speak. Your mom, dad, aunt, uncle, whoever’s raising you, they don’t get to tell you what to do. That is the ultimate place where you can assert your independence and see a difference — and believe it or not, every vote counts.”