Portland City Election Guide
The Do-Not-Rank List of Red Flags & Villains
for November 2026
Make sure our City Council represents the people of Portland — NOT police, developers, or other corporate villains.
In our ranked-choice system, you need to know who NOT to vote for.
In 2024, we brought you our first Do Not Rank guide. We’re back in 2026 because our future is still at stake. We continue to face overlapping crises that intersect locally and globally: assaults on immigrants, trans people, and people of color; climate change; the rise of fascism, AI, and the surveillance state; the high cost of living; and the undermining of public health.
But none of these crises is inevitable. If we act collectively, we can make our political and economic systems prioritize what’s important: a truly livable future for all.
Before 2025, Portland City Council consistently bowed down to business lobbyists and real estate developers who push corporate tax cuts over community programs. Our current system has improved representation, but grassroots candidates — the ones not bought out by corporate interests — do not yet have a clear majority. This limits their ability to pass policies that prioritize people over profits.
The old power brokers aren’t giving up without a fight. Corporate interests and developers have again spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Portland’s 2026 elections.
We need to vote strategically to block their candidates from city council.
Voting alone will not save us; we need to organize and act collectively. We urge you to get involved in local organizing — and bring your friends and neighbors along with you.
In the meantime, rank as many candidates as you can, and do not include any who are paid for by the villains of Portland, corporations and police.
In 2026 we will again use ranked choice voting to elect our City Council. In this method, voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference, and votes are counted in a series of rounds.
To win City Council seats, candidates need 25% of the votes in their district + 1 vote. If winners are not clear in a first round, votes for the least popular candidates are reallocated according to the rankings of people who voted for them. Once a candidate wins a seat, any votes above the threshold they needed to win are reallocated according to the rankings of people who voted for them. Rounds continue until each City Council district has three winning candidates.
We are a group of Portlanders who spend our free time organizing in the community. For years we have worked on grassroots, pro-people campaigns: things like universal preschool, tenant protections, labor union campaigns, funding our schools, and more.
Portland has our hearts. It’s our home and we want to see its people thrive.
We believe our community should be led by people who live here, not by the corporations and capitalists who want to brutalize us and exploit our labor and our natural resources. We research the political and financial activity of corporations and corporate lobbyists to inform our organizing and educate the community.
The people of Portland have worked hard to make progressive changes that benefit everyone, like city charter reform, Portland Clean Energy Fund, Preschool For All, and more.
However, these progressive wins have repeatedly been opposed by the Portland Metro Chamber (PMC) (formerly known as the Portland Business Alliance [PBA]), its member organizations including climate villains like Zenith Energy and major real estate developers, and affiliated Political Action Committees and similar groups like United for Portland, Go Portland Go!, and the Coalition for Portland’s Future.
We are not affiliated with the Instagram accounts @dontrankpdx, @dontrankjulia, or @dontrankzimmerman
PMC and its affiliates have a history of promoting (and lobbying for) a vision of Portland that works mainly for the rich and white. The PMC was formerly known as the Portland Business Alliance, which is now an umbrella group, and continues to lobby city legislators more than any other group or individual. After its rebrand in 2023, the Portland Business Alliance is now made up of three affiliate groups: Portland Metro Chamber, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, and Partners in Diversity.
The PMC morphs itself to align with wealth and property. In the era of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the PMC (especially through its sister organization Partners in Diversity) brown-washes its policies and campaigns by tokenizing prominent Black, Asian, and Latino organizations to mask its historic support of police brutality, redlining, and divestment of Black and ethnic neighborhoods. Today, its current permutations prioritize property values and corporate wealth over people.
PMC has opposed voter-approved initiatives while lobbying to give tax breaks to billionaires and further jeopardize our fragile climate. PMC opposed charter reform, Portland Clean Energy Fund, Preschool For All, Measure 110, and expanding Portland Street Response. PMC has fought to scale back funding to these programs, move earmarked funds to pet projects, or even eliminate them entirely. PMC has opposed raising salaries for teachers and allowing cities and counties to create commercial taxes to fund essential services. PMC opposes any tax on businesses or the wealthy, even though we need more resources to support the health and safety of our residents. In fact, PMC supports using hundreds of millions of dollars of scarce city funds to renovate the Moda Center, rather than ask the billionaire owners of the Portland Trailblazers to foot the bill. PMC has also sanctioned data centers in downtown Portland and storage of toxic and combustible fuels at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub.
Real estate developers shape the PMC as well as our city’s deep affordability crisis. Their financial interests lie in protecting private property, maximizing profit, and minimizing their tax liability — an approach that helps drive up the cost of housing.
When we say real estate developers, we’re not talking about community-based organizations like Albina Vision Trust; we’re talking about developers that weaponize our zoning code to find loopholes to evade housing affordability requirements, destroy beloved Portland food carts for luxury hotels, and sell off valuable land to entertainment monopolies.
Enhanced Services Districts (ESDs) are murky public-private partnerships that consolidate corporate power at taxpayers’ expense. Portland has three ESDs: Central Eastside Together, Downtown Clean & Safe, and Lloyd ESD. Clean & Safe is an affiliate of the PMC. Property owners — even publicly financed city offices — within the Clean & Safe boundary are required to pay into the ESD, which funds PMC lobbying, increases private security in public spaces, and supports expanding other ESDs (four other districts in the city are currently “exploring” the process of establishing an ESD).
A primary tool to enforce and maintain the PMC’s power comes from a deep relationship with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and its union, the Portland Police Association.
The Portland Police Association is the oldest police union in the country, writing the playbook to dodge consequences for extrajudicial killings and the violent assault of people in crisis and people of color. PPB also maintains contracts with all three ESDs.
While many city departments, like Parks & Recreation and the Bureau of Transportation, face massive budget shortfalls and defer maintenance, the PPB budget dipped in 2020 only to increase again in subsequent years. Portland Street Response, a wildly successful alternative to traditional policing that focuses on helping those in crisis, has been undermined by PMC-backed city councilors.
The police union also funded the failed Safer Portland initiative, which sought to siphon earmarked funds from the voter-approved Portland Clean Energy Fund to pad the police budget.
We conducted research for this guide from publicly available sources, including candidates’ own websites, ORESTAR (the Oregon Secretary of State’s database of all campaign finance transactions), the Portland Mercury, and Rose City Reform.
Because campaign finance reform makes it more difficult for candidates to get huge contributions from single sources, we have considered not only whether candidates are bankrolled by PMC but also whether they are funded by entities that align with the PMC agenda. We focus on the most egregious and well-funded candidates (as of Oct. 1, 2026).
We asked these questions:
(1) Did the candidate accept donations from groups or individuals affiliated with the PMC, major real estate developers, or the Portland police?
(2) Does the candidate have other red flags? For instance, have they opposed grassroots ballot measures, allied with the police, or skirted campaign finance or other laws?
(*click for more on incumbent candidates' records)
Matthias Hallett
Why Not: Calls for more police on the streets. Endorsed the problematic Safer Portland initiative which sought to steal Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars for the police budget.
Keir Legree
Why Not: Endorsed the problematic Safer Portland initiative which sought to steal Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars for the police budget. Wants to enforce citywide camping bans and halt the can return program, essentially criminalizing being poor and unhoused.
Darren McCormick
Why not: On his personal substack, expressed support for Trump sending National Guard troops to Portland in response to protests at the ICE facility. Favors more police.
Steve Novick*
Why Not: Received donations from multiple real estate developers, endorsed by at least one PMC-aligned official. (Click for more about his record.)
In 2024 we recommended you not rank Steve Novick because his campaign was financially supported by multiple PMC members and because he was endorsed by at least one PMC-backed organization. Since his election, Councilor Novick has shown his alignment with our city villains through his voting record. He voted against fiscal transparency and oversight related to surplus funds in City offices. He voted in favor of the Moda Center term sheet, a handout for billionaire owners of the Trailblazers. Councilor Novick voted against amending the Arts Tax to reduce costs for poor Portlanders. He also voted against fining the owner of the ICE building for leasing the land to a detention facility.
Perhaps more importantly, during his tenure Councilor Novick has also supported more funding for police. In 2026 Novick introduced multiple amendments to Mayor Wilson’s initial budget to do just that. For example, one amendment proposed moving funds from the City Administrator’s office and City Councilor security budget to restore PPB positions. He also co-proposed an amendment with Councilor Clark (and others) that would have taken money from the Office of Community Police Accountability to bolster the PPB budget.
Terry Parker
Why not: Favors increased funding for police and a harsher approach to drugs, homelessness, and crime; less support for bike and bus infrastructure
Heart Free Pham
Why not: Favors harsher treatment of unhoused people and property crime; opposes taxing the wealthy.
Kellie Torres
Why not: Received donations from many real estate developers and brokers and from PMC members and affiliates. Endorsed by multiple PMC-backed politicians and supporters of the fossil fuel industry.
Martin Ward
Why not: Proposes eliminating the Portland Clean Energy Fund, as well as cutting libraries, parks, bus service, and the size of city council while investing more in police. In his run for Republican nomination for Governor, advocated making abortion and gender-affirming care illegal and raising costs on same-sex marriages.
Timothy (TJ) Anderson
Why not: Favors harsher treatment for unhoused people who refuse government help or services. Wants to invest in the PPB and public safety. Opposes new taxes (any new taxes).
Eli Arnold
Why not: A PPB officer who was a member of the PPB’s Riot Response Squad during the 2020 uprisings. Received donations from real estate developers. Endorsed by at least one PMC-backed PAC and at least one PMC-backed politician.
Olivia Clark*
Why not: Received donations from multiple known PMC members and real estate developers. Endorsed by multiple PMC-backed politicians, multiple PMC-backed organizations, and the Portland Police Association. (Click for more about her record.)
In 2024, we suggested you not rank Olivia Clark, as her campaign was financed by multiple known PMC members and endorsed by multiple PMC-based politicians, at least one PMC-based organization, and the Portland Police Association. Her actions since taking office have only underlined that Councilor Clark’s loyalty is to Portland’s capitalist class, not the working class electorate. Councilor Clark voted to support the term sheet on the Moda Center in August 2026. She has also voted against making public spending more transparent; against prohibiting the use of AI to set anti-competitive rental prices; and against measures to reduce costs and enhance services to poor and young Portlanders (including allocating the Children's Levy).
Councilor Clark’s primary focus while in office seems to be supporting the PPB. She voted against filling all available spots on the Community Board of Police Accountability, and all three of her possible amendments to the 2026-2027 budget focused on providing additional funds to the PPB. Two of these amendments aimed to move funds from the Office of Community Police Accountability to the PPB itself; had Councilor Clark gotten her way, PPB’s budget would have grown at the expense of the very office tasked with overseeing it and ensuring accountability to the public.
John Goldsmith
Why not: Filed to be on the ballot and then all but abandoned his campaign. Don’t waste a vote on someone who does not seriously want to represent you!
John McDonald
Why not: Favors stronger enforcement of TriMet fares and investing more into “public safety”. Supports the city providing millions in public funds to modernize the Moda Center.
Eric Zimmerman*
Why not: Received donations from real estate developers and PMC members. Endorsed by PMC-backed politicians, the Portland Police Association, and at least one PMC-backed organization. (Click for more about his record.)
In 2024, we advised you not to rank Eric Zimmerman because his campaign was supported by real estate developers, law enforcement, and Portland Metro Chamber members. We stand by that position because they got what they paid for.
Zimmerman has voted against fiscal transparency and responsibility, including opposing greater oversight and releasing of public records in reference to unspent surplus funds, opposing renewal of the City's ethical investment policy, and opposing updating fees to maintain Transportation infrastructure. He voted in favor of the Moda term sheet, putting the City on track to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the billionaire owner of the Blazers. He has voted against measures to reduce costs and enhance services to poor and young Portlanders: He opposed changes to lower the burden of the City's Arts tax on lowest-income Portlanders and respond to community and audit recommendations, and opposed allocating funds from the Children's Levy to fund early childhood, after-school, mentoring, child abuse prevention and intervention, foster care and hunger relief programs. In his Council votes and proposed budget amendments, he has opposed accountability measures for police (by voting against appointing members to the Community Board for Police Accountability), while supporting more punitive laws allowing for harsher policing of "nuisance activity." Faced with a draft budget from the mayor that cut Fire and Rescue, Parks, Health, and other services, he proposed spending more on police.
We didn’t make them, but we appreciate these other “Do Not Rank” guides for Portland-area elections.
Don’t Rank Julia Brim-Edwards (Multnomah County Chair)
We told you who not to vote for, but which candidates should you actually rank? Here are some endorsement guides to point you in the right direction:
In 2022, Portland voters approved Measure 26-228. This ballot measure made three changes to city government, with a goal of greater representation:
Replaced a commission form of government with a system where City Council sets policy and a city administrator runs day-to-day operations with the mayor
Expanded city council from 4 members elected citywide to 12 members who represent four geographic districts
Introduced ranked choice voting
Ranked choice voting works just how it sounds! Voters rank candidates in order of preference, then votes are tallied in rounds until a candidate has enough votes to win.
For Portland’s city council elections, votes are tallied using a method called “single transferable vote.” If you aren’t sure how single transferable vote works, Rose City Reform explains it in a great, simple video. Basically, you can rank up to 6 candidates you want to represent your district on City Council. If your top candidate gets elected or eliminated, your vote can still count toward the remaining seats: your vote may be transferred to the candidates you ranked lower on the ballot. If you fill out all 6 slots on your ballot, it’s more likely that candidates you prefer will win a seat.
To learn more about ranked choice voting, explore these resources:
The League of Women Voters of Portland guide to ranked choice voting
The City of Portland guide, including a section to practice ranked choice voting
Here are some sources we found both helpful and accessible:
Rose City Reform: Information about every candidate (listed by how many endorsements they have), including a quick list of endorsements, campaign pledges, and how much money they have raised.
The Portland Mercury: Background information and interviews for each candidate.
Portland Civic Lab: A great source to deep dive all things Portland government, including side-by-side charts comparing City Council candidates.
The Big Blink remixes lobbying data published by the City of Portland, Oregon, including 15699 lobbying incidents reported between January 7, 2014 and June 30, 2026.
From DSA blog The Thorn (2026)
PAC-MEN: The Web of Political Action Committees Pushing Portland To The Right
Portland Metro Chamber (of Secrets): on the PMC's 10 dirtiest deeds
Who Runs Portland? Powerpoint and video from a March 2024 event organized by ILPS Portland, Unite Oregon, Portland DSA, and Sisters of the Road.
Powerpoint reviews the history of the Portland Business Alliance
Video features a panel of community organizers discussing the ongoing struggle for grassroots people power in the city, followed by a group discussion about how to get involved in the fight to take back Portland
From Locus Focus on KBOO radio (audio, 2024):
From The Old Mole Variety Hour on KBOO radio (audio & text, 2023-24):
Don't Believe the Hype! Portland does NOT Have the Highest Taxes in the Country!
Clean & Safe: A Dirty and Dangerous Contract for Portland
How Portland Metro Chamber and Business Lobbyists Undermine Ballot Initiatives
How Portland Metro Chamber and Business Lobbyists Undermine Education Funding
Chloe Eudaly’s Street Wonk: Word on the Street #1 on PBA, ESDs, and the Audit (Dec 2022)