He may be a member of the Republican party but if you just look at his record as governor, you'd probably guess he's a Democrat. Pro choice, trans rights, thoroughly anti Trump, and even a lot of his tax cuts seem to prioritize relief for the working poor rather than the leech investor class.

Also, this is anecdotal but I've spent some time in Vermont and the conservatives there who I met were by and large reasonable, open-minded, and anti-Trump (there were a couple of exceptions but nowhere is perfect).

State politics are different from national politics. A blue state republican governor can sometimes be more left than a red state democratic governor.

If you think Seattle's race relations are on the same level or even close to any red state then I sincerely doubt you've ever left Seattle or been to a red state.

There are racist people literally everywhere but not everywhere makes a culture out of being racist.

Thanks for letting me know. Haven't been there in a few years, sad to hear it.

Against any particular group?

Yeah? Sounds like that's where people on the right side are needed, then.

Portland is a great city. I've been living in the UK for almost 4 years now and I've never been to a bookshop as good as Powell's, and the food there is at least twice as good as it ought to be, for what they charge.

Perhaps you think I meant south of Lake Union. Understandable mistake. In north Seattle you can't sneeze without getting a tree wet. I spent most of my time in those parts.

Depends on the area. North Central WA for example is lots of Republicans but lots of Hippies too. I remember hearing an elderly granola looking lady complaining to her friend that the feds busted her whole grow-op. Southern Oregon can be like that: MAGA on one property but the Neighbors are Deadheads wearing tie dye

Even the cities are starting to get purple

East of the cascades it's all racism. But to the west I didn't encounter it much. But that may just be an anecdotal comparison to the actual shit holes I have lived in where racism thrived rather than lurked.

Eugene is in the Wallamette Valley and is a historically progressive city (despite it's origins), especially for LGBTQ+ people and communities. It's home to the University of Oregon which has a fairly diverse student body and faculty. Lots of "everybody is welcome" signs in shop windows, "hate has no home here" signs in people's yards.

Hop across the river and you're in Springfield, which is another story. Kind of a Tale of Two Cities thing. Much less wealth along with all the problems that tend to follow.

As someone who lived in a deep blue city in Texas for a decade, I can confirm you're making the right decision.

Houston, Austin, and San Antonio are all dope to visit, but 100% not worth living there. And I will never willingly set foot in that state again.

Cellular or Starlink are your only options, unless you include none (meaning libraries or public wifi).

Mostly cell signal. I have a painter's pole that I put an omni-directional antenna on and an amplifier if need be but, most of the places I find that meet my other criteria (open enough for good solar, not recently logged etc) have a 4 out of 5 bars of either LTE or 5G service which is good enough for my needs. Was thinking about Starlink but can't easily get past the Elon connection...even now that the hardware cost just halved.