State Republicans are going to have to do a better job attracting people to their banner if they ever want to contend for the governor’s position or avoid walkouts like the six-week fiasco that shut down business during this year’s legislative session.

The walkout symbolized more than just another round of partisan dissatisfaction but instead illustrated the wide political divide in the state. That chasm was serious enough that it ground the gears of democracy to a screeching halt.

That isn’t a sustainable policy.

The focal point of the walkouts — including the ones voters were treated to in the past — is the fact that one party or another is in the minority and feels it has no choice.

This time it was Republicans, who can rightfully boast of a fairly broad support in much of rural Oregon. The trouble is, rural Oregon doesn’t have the same amount of people that live in key urban areas of the state that are largely Democratic.

That means Republicans need to find a way to get more middle-of-the-road voters to rally to their banner. That means the old, tried and true, in-your-face, Trump-inspired rhetoric will need to be toned down or abandoned. Middle-of-the-road voters, those who have Republican and Democrat leanings, want someone who can get things done. Shouting about “stolen elections” isn’t going to make the trains run on time.

The six-week hiatus by Oregon Senate Republicans was propelled by two bills — one regarding guns, the other abortion — that ultraleft-leaning lawmakers championed. There was a way around the walkout before it even occurred. However, lawmakers on both sides decided they were going to dig in their heels.

Who lost in the end? Voters.

The majority of voters, that is. Not the members of the minority party, of who initiated the walkout, who yearn to wave the bloody political shirt and are cheered by sectional discontent. They received what they wanted. The rest of us were forced to take an uncomfortable seat at the latest partisan farce and hope someone came to their senses and sought compromise.

This time we were saved at the last minute.

There should never have been a walkout. There should have been wise politicians on both sides of the aisle who sought a way to move things forward.

There wasn’t.

Which isn’t good for our future political health.