CANYON CITY — Sam Palmer’s campaign for the U.S. Senate ended last month and now he is taking a breather to see what comes next.

The first-term Grant County commissioner, one of seven candidates who made a bid for the Republican nomination in the May 17 primary, finished third in the race with 42,172 votes, or just over 12.19% of the overall tally, in his first run for statewide office.

Joe Rae Perkins, the Republican candidate in the 2020 U.S. Senate general election against Sen. Jeff Merkley, got the GOP nod with 114,341 votes, or just over 33%, while Darin Harbick, owner of Harbick’s Country Inn and Harbick’s Country Store in the McKenzie River Valley, earned 106,277 votes, or 30.72% of the tally, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office website.

Palmer sought the GOP nomination to challenge for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Ron Wyden, who won 413,703 votes, or nearly 89%, in his party’s primary. Wyden has held the seat since 1996.

Palmer told the Eagle in a Thursday, May 26, phone interview that what inspired him to jump in the race to unseat Wyden was the Democratic senator’s bill that would give “wild and scenic” status to an additional 4,700 miles of rivers and streams around the state.

Palmer said Wyden did not confer with elected officials in rural areas about the impact of the proposed legislation on their communities when his staff was designating miles of streams and tributaries to be included in the River Democracy Act of 2021.

“I just felt that I could bring a voice from Eastern Oregon (to the U.S. Senate) that has not been brought forth about what’s happening to our public lands, our future and our way of life that is being assaulted,” Palmer said.

Palmer, who works as a registered nurse in addition to his duties as a county commissioner, said he drove to campaign events all over the state.

He said the sheer vastness of Oregon was one of his biggest takeaways.

“I’ve driven roads that I’ve never driven before to get to places that I’ve only heard of,” Palmer said. “(Oregon) is just a ginormous state. I’m just in awe.”

Another thing that surprised Palmer was how fed up people were with the government and their elected leaders.

After campaigning at gun shows and other get-togethers in communities that included Pendleton, Hillsboro, Salem, Albany and the Portland metro area, Palmer said people in those locales are “fighting mad.”

Going into the race, Palmer said he thought Grant County was “hardcore” when it came to frustration with the government. After his campaign, however, he said other regions put Grant County “to shame” in that respect.

“I attended a lot of gun shows and a lot of these people said if America keeps going the way it’s going, we’re going to end up in a shooting war. In a civil war,” Palmer said.

Some, he said, are prepared and ready to go, and it took him aback to realize how serious they were.

The issues, Palmer said, ran the gamut from opposition to the “defund the police” movement to dissatisfaction with the homelessness problem in Portland.

“They’re done,” Palmer said. “They’re fed up.”

What now?

Palmer opted not to file for re-election as Grant County commissioner when he decided to take a run for the Senate. Instead, he threw his support behind John Day resident John Rowell, who won the three-way race with more than 53% of the vote. Now, Palmer told the Eagle, that he has every intention of finishing out the rest of his term, which expires at the end of the year.

As far as his political future going forward, he said he is unsure he has one at this point.

He said he was preparing to submit a resume to Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian organization that provides aid to people in physical need in crisis zones such as Ukraine, Haiti and Uganda. In addition, Palmer said he would like to do mission work and provide medical help with his nursing degree.