Oregon has 36 counties. Governor Brown said, two weeks ago, that counties that met seven criteria could petition to be exempted from Brown's stay-at-home/business closure order.
33 counties applied. 31 were approved and two denied. Those two were counties south and west of Portland, including the Salem metro area. The three that did not apply were those that comprise the metro area of Portland on the Oregon side of the Columbia.
29 of the 31 counties that are opening up are Republican, some strongly so. They are mostly rural and have small populations. The five that are not opening up are Democratic and densely populated.
The county-by-county assessment allows each county to make its own decisions as long as it meets those (fairly strict) criteria. Those include available hospital capacity, PPE stocks, decline in cases, and so forth.
Now, I think opening up at all is foolhardy in the extreme. Oregon has has a very low incidence of cases and deaths precisely because of the strict statewide guidelines that were imposed. But Republicans statewide have been agitating for opening up and consequently, more deaths.
And you know what? I say, let 'em if they meet the criteria. It seems to be a reasonable compromise.
The rich conservative elites love to characterize Oregon as some kind of monolithic liberal stronghold. In reality, the kind of politics you see depends on where you are. There are actually many VERY sharp divides.
Yet, we all get along. The Trumper states could take a page or two from our notebook.