ENTERPRISE — Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash is throwing his hat in the ring for the seat being vacated by retiring state Sen. Bill Hansell.

Hansell, a Republican from Athena, has served over four decades in local and state government positions, including eight terms as a Umatilla County commissioner and three terms in the Oregon State Senate, representing a large rural district in eastern Oregon.

Nash, who has been a Wallowa County commissioner since 2017, hopes to follow in Hansell’s footsteps.

“Sen. Hansell has done a good job,” Nash said Thursday, March 30. “One of the things he did is he tried to be statesman rather than a politician. I can’t imagine trying to fill Sen. Hansell’s shoes and I certainly won’t. He certainly left a legacy there.”

Hansell announced March 3 he would not seek reelection to his District 29 seat. He said he made the announcement early so that other potential candidates would have plenty of time to ponder an election run.

Nash is a longtime cattle rancher in Wallowa County, having moved here in 1968. He also has worked as a logger and a sawmill worker.

“I’ve kind of had my hands in ranching the whole time,” he said.

He has served as president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association since 2021, has been active with the Association of Oregon Counties as co-chair of the Natural Resource Committee and on the Public Lands Committee at the National Association of Counties. He is the immediate past co-chair of the Wallowa County 4/H FFA Fair livestock sale, where he served for 15 years.

He has been the recipient of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce Award for Entrepreneur of The Year, the Wallowa County Cattleman of the Year Award and Honorary Cattlemen of the Year, the American Forest Resource Council’s Tillicum Award and many other state and local awards.

Nash has been active with the Legislature going back to 2010 helping to shape state policies within farming, timber, ranching and natural resource issues. He has also worked with Oregon Department of Agriculture and is currently a state Weed Board member.

He said he plans to continue Hansell’s legacy of representing rural Oregon.

“I intend to carry on that tradition to give rural Oregonians a voice in the Legislature,” Nash said. “There are a multitude of issues that need to be addressed and challenges that need to be tackled that will require experienced leadership in natural resources, economic development and community-based issues if we are going to ensure rural Oregonians have the representation they deserve. I will be that leader and the voice we need.”

In preparation for filing for the seat in September, Nash has opened a political action committee, developed an exploratory committee and hired an Oregon campaign-management firm.

“It would be an honor to represent the citizens of Senate District 29 in the Legislature,” he said in a press release. “I look forward to meeting with and listening to constituents throughout the district, learning their issues, and earning their trust and eventually their vote.”

Nash and his wife, Angie, have four children between them and six grandchildren.

He said he doesn’t plan on a long political career, but will serve as seems appropriate, which is what he called his time on the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners.

“I didn’t really see myself moving onto the state Legislature, but things change,” he said. “It seemed like the time to do that. … I’m glad to pursue it.”

Nash said he is not aware of anyone else who has announced their intention to run for the nomination, but the primary is still more than a year away.

“I hope to be able to represent a great district,” he said.

Senate District 29 covers all of Wallowa, Union, Gilliam, Morrow, Sherman and Umatilla counties, as well as parts of Wasco County.

Nash’s fellow Wallowa County commissioners were supportive of his plans, though it’s still too early to actually make endorsements.

“I’m really in favor of Todd because he lives on this side of the mountains,” Commissioner John Hillock said Friday. “It’s time we get an elected official from Union and Wallowa counties in the state Legislature.”

Commissioner Susan Roberts agreed.

“If he can do good down there, good for him,” she said. “I don’t want to go down there, but if he does, we’ll support him in that.”

The main point, they said, was to have a strong voice in Salem for Northeastern Oregon.

“Our voice will be heard,” Roberts said. “We’ll have a voice that we haven’t had in a while.”