January 12, 2026 3:40 a.m. 

On Saturday, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley’s town hall event drew around 200 people to the Southern Oregon Wine Institute on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Winchester.

It ended up being Merkley’s first town hall of 2026 after the junior senator postponed events on Friday, following the Thursday shooting of two people said to have connections with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, by agents with the U.S. Border Patrol in Portland.

Merkley began the event by honoring the work of Thrive Umpqua. The organization’s executive director Jess Hand explained their mission and Merkley gave Hand and her staff an American flag that has flown over the U.S. capitol in Washington D.C.

Before taking questions from the audience, Merkley shared his concerns regarding the financial future of the Social Security program. He said that addressing the issue needs to be a bigger concern for lawmakers.

Merkley heard concerns regarding health care and hospitals, the potential for some federal lands to be returned to the states, wildfires burning on federal land and more. The senator told local veterans leader Jim Little that he is continuing to push for federal funding to help build a state veterans home in Roseburg. In response to a question regarding ICE agents, Merkley said he is opposed to people being targeted due to their skin color. The senator drew big applause when he said he doesn’t trust the information coming from the Department of Homeland Security. Merkley said he continues to support vote by mail, despite an effort by the Trump Administration to pull back from the practice.

Those in attendance appeared largely supportive of Merkley’s opinions, though there were some dissenters. One man described as being a staunch Republican said he was there because Merkley “is still our senator”.

Merkley’s series of town hall meetings wrapped up on Sunday.