Brad’s Commonsense Priorities
Brad Hicks is running to bring the ABCs back to Salem: Affordability, Balance, and Common Sense. These principles will guide every vote Brad casts and every decision he makes in the Oregon Senate.
Cost of Living
Because of the Salem supermajority, Oregon is the fifth-least affordable state in America and has the highest individual tax burden. Nearly half of Oregonians cannot afford a $500 emergency. Brad will fight to lower the tax burden on working families, oppose new taxes that make life harder, and cut the wasteful government spending that drives up costs without delivering results.
Housing
Oregon’s housing crisis is real, and government overregulation is making it worse. Red tape, delays, fees, and unnecessary regulatory costs are pricing out first-time homebuyers, young families, seniors, and working-class Oregonians. Brad will fight to streamline permitting, reduce unnecessary costs, and make it possible for builders to build the homes Southern Oregon families desperately need.
Small Business & Jobs
The Salem supermajority has made Oregon one of the most anti-small-business states in America. Brad knows Southern Oregon's economy runs on small businesses and working families, not corporate lobbyists and special interests. Brad knows what it takes to create jobs because he has spent his career working with the people who do it every day. In the Senate, Brad will fight to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses, oppose job-killing mandates, and create an environment where Oregon businesses can grow, hire, and thrive. When small businesses succeed, workers succeed. When workers succeed, communities succeed.
Workforce Development & Trades
College is a great path for many students, but it should not be the only path to success. Brad will champion apprenticeship programs, career technical education, trades training, and workforce development initiatives that build a pipeline of skilled workers and create family-sustaining careers right here in Southern Oregon. Oregon needs welders, electricians, plumbers, builders, mechanics, healthcare workers, firefighters, and skilled professionals who keep our communities running.
AFFORDABILITY
Making Oregon a place where families can afford to live, work, and thrive.
Restoring accountability, bipartisan leadership, and Southern Oregon's voice in Salem.
BALANCE
Government Accountability & Transparency
Salem's one-party supermajority has operated without meaningful checks for too long, making major decisions behind closed doors with minimal public input. Brad will fight to open the legislative process, demand transparency and accountability from state agencies, and ensure Southern Oregon's voice is heard in every policy debate. He will hold regular constituent meetings, maintain an open door year-round, and never forget who sent him to Salem.
Bipartisan Leadership
Brad doesn't believe in political problems or partisan solutions. He believes in Southern Oregon problems and commonsense solutions. Brad will work across the aisle and reject the extreme partisanship that has poisoned Salem in recent years. When elected officials work together regardless of political party, Oregonians win.
Agriculture & Rural Oregon
Southern Oregon’s agricultural community is the backbone of our rural economy. Our farmers, ranchers, growers, and producers feed families, create jobs, protect open space, and help define who we are. Brad will stand with Oregon's farmers and ranchers, oppose regulations that drive up compliance costs and threaten family farm viability, fight against radical measures like Initiative Petition 28 that would criminalize ranching and farming, and make sure rural Oregon has a senator who actually shows up, listens, and fights for them.
COMMON SENSE
Practical, commonsense solutions to Oregon's biggest challenges.
Wildfire Prevention
Southern Oregon needs real protection, not more confusion from Salem. Brad will protect Medford's tanker base, fight back against harmful wildfire maps, deliver insurance price transparency and secure credits for homeowners who take preventive measures, and invest in wildfire prevention by prioritizing forest management, not just firefighting. He will always ensure that our first responders have every resource and tool they need to keep our communities safe. Southern Oregon has experienced this crisis firsthand. Brad will make sure Salem finally treats it with the urgency it deserves.
Public Safety
Oregonians deserve to feel safe in their homes and communities. Unfortunately, for far too long, the Salem supermajority has prioritized politics and ideology over public safety. That must change. Brad will support law enforcement and ensure they have every tool and resource they need to protect our communities. He will also fight to increase penalties for criminals who poison our neighborhoods with dangerous drugs like fentanyl and who traffic human beings in our communities. He will fight to ensure violent criminals are actually prosecuted and that they serve their full sentences, not released back into our communities early.
Education
Oregon's education system is failing our students. Salem's decision to eliminate high school graduation requirements is a perfect example of the lack of common sense that has defined this supermajority's leadership. Brad will fight to restore rigorous graduation requirements, invest in vocational and career technical education, and hold schools accountable for properly preparing the next generation. Every Oregon student deserves an education that opens doors, not one that simply moves them through the system.
Homelessness & Addiction
Oregon’s homelessness and addiction crises are heartbreaking, costly, and getting worse. Oregon has the second-highest rate of unsheltered homelessness in the country and the second-highest drug addiction rate. Despite historic levels of spending, Oregon’s systems for mental health, addiction treatment, housing, and recovery have failed to deliver the results people were promised. Well-intentioned programs have failed to deliver, and Salem's response has been to spend more rather than demand better. Brad will hold agencies accountable for results, demand that programs prove their effectiveness, and pursue practical solutions that actually help Oregon's most vulnerable residents.