Portland City Election Guide

In 2024, our future is at stake. We face overlapping crises: the impacts of climate change, housing scarcity, the high cost of living, the rise of fascism, attacks on trans people, and the genocide in Palestine.

But none of these crises is inevitable. If we act collectively, we can take over our political and economic systems to prioritize what’s important: a truly livable future for all.

This year, we have a chance to reclaim power locally with Portland’s new city council system. In recent years, City Council has bowed down to business lobbyists who fight to make the city fund corporate tax cuts over community programs, and who favor policing people rather than solving problems at the roots. Those wealthy interests have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the 2024 city races.

We need to vote strategically to block their candidates — candidates who prioritize profits and policing over people — from getting into office.

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, make your vote go farther by selecting 6 candidates as long as they are not cozy with corporations and police!

Real estate developers and other business interests opposed our new city council system because it has more representation, which makes it easier to elect grassroots candidates who are not bought out by corporate interests.

But the new system requires new strategies: Rank as many candidates as you can, and do not include any who are paid for by the villains of Portland (at least when possible).

For the first time, in 2024 we will use ranked choice voting to elect our mayor and City Council. In this voting method, voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference, and votes are counted in a series of rounds.

To win the mayoral race, a candidate needs more than half the votes citywide.

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 of the four City Council districts has three winning candidates

Who we are and how we developed the do-not-rank list

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 (PCEF), Preschool For All, and more.

However, these progressive wins have repeatedly been opposed by 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” and the “Coalition for Portland’s Future”.

Naming Portland’s Villains

# 1 The Portland Business Alliance

PBA and its affiliates have a history of promoting (and lobbying for) a vision of Portland that works mainly for the rich and white. According to city records, PBA lobbies city legislators more than any other group or individual. After a rebrand in 2023, the PBA is now made up of three affiliate groups: Portland Metro Chamber, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, Partners in Diversity.

The PBA morphs itself to align with wealth and property. In the era of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the PBA 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.

PBA opposed charter reform, Portland Clean Energy Fund, Preschool For All, Measure 110, and expanding Portland Street Response. PBA also opposed raising salaries for teachers and allowing cities and counties to create commercial taxes that would fund essential services. The PBA opposes taxes on business or the wealthy, even though we need more resources to support the health and safety of our residents.

# 2 Real Estate Developers and Enhanced Service Districts

Real estate developers shape the PBA 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 Service Districts are murky public-private partnerships that consolidate corporate power at taxpayers’ expense.

Portland has three enhanced service districts: Central Eastside Together, Downtown Clean & Safe, and Lloyd ESD. Clean & Safe is an affiliate of the PBA. Property owners — even publicly-financed city offices — within the Clean & Safe boundary are required to pay into the enhanced service district which funds PBA lobbying, increases private security in public spaces, and supports expanding other enhanced service districts.

# 3 Portland Police

A primary tool to enforce and maintain the PBA’s power comes from a deep relationship with the Portland Police Bureau and its union the Portland Police Association.

The Police Association is the oldest police union in the country, writing the playbook to dodge any consequences for extrajudicial killings and the violent assault of people in crisis and people of color. Portland’s Police Bureau also maintains contracts with all three of the Enhanced Service Districts.

While many of Portland’s departments, like Parks & Recreation and the Bureau of Transportation, face massive budget shortfalls and defer maintenance, the Portland Police Bureau saw a small budget dip 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 PBA-backed city councilors.

Our criteria and sources

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), 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 PBA but also whether they are funded by entities that align with the PBA agenda. We focus on the most egregious and well-funded candidates (as of October 1, 2024).

We asked these questions:

(1) Did the candidate accept donations from groups or individuals affiliated with the PBA, 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?

The DO-NOT-RANK List!

Mayor

Rene Gonzalez

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers and PBA-affiliated individuals. Endorsed by multiple policing associations and favored by far-right groups. Supports defunding PCEF. Has repeatedly been charged with violating finance rules and mishandling public funds. Historically has supported policies that criminalize houselessness.

A Note About Other Well-Funded Mayoral Candidates: We are hesitant to suggest not ranking any of the leading candidates for Mayor. All have SEVERAL red flags. But whatever you do, Don’t Rank Rene.

Mingus Mapps

Why Not: Supported by real estate developers and police. Favors diverting money from PCEF and spending money on policing. Opposed the new city charter. Supports arresting houseless neighbors.

Carmen Rubio

Why Not: Supported by real estate developers and fossil fuel industry. Allowed Zenith Energy to continue its dangerous operations, undermining the Portland Moratorium on new Fossil Fuel Infrastructure. Supports creation of Tax Increment Financing districts, which promote gentrification. Favors defunding PCEF.

Keith Wilson

Why Not: Supported by real estate developers and out-of-state business interests. Supports enforcing the camping ban and wants to direct public money to churches to provide shelters.

District 1

Terrence Hayes

Why Not: Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and by the Portland Police Association.

Loretta Smith

Why Not: Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed politician, PBA-backed organizations, and by the Portland Police Association.

District 2

Dan Ryan

Why Not: Received donations from many real estate developers and known PBA members. Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians, PBA-backed organizations and by the Portland Police Association. Continuous support for the fossil fuel industry.

Tiffani Penson

Why Not: Received donations from known PBA members. Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and PBA-backed organizations, and by the Portland Police Association.

Mariah Hudson

Why Not: Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and by PBA-backed organizations.

Mike Marshall

Why Not: Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Bob Simril

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers and known PBA members. Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed politician and by the Portland Police Association.

District 3

Harrison Kass

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers. Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed politician and by the Portland Police Association.

Jesse Cornett

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers and professional lobbyists. Endorsed by at least one PBA- backed organization.

Steve Novick

Why Not: Received donations from multiple PBA members. Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Daniel DeMelo

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers. Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed politician and by the Portland Police Association.

Kezia Wanner

Why Not: Endorsed by at least one PBA-backed politician, the Portland Police Association, and the Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. Previously employed by the Portland Police Bureau.

District 4

Olivia Clark

Why Not: Received donations from multiple known PBA members. Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians, at least one PBA-backed organization, and by the Portland Police Association.

Stan Penkin

Why Not: Received donations from individuals employed in real estate and venture capital. Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Eli Arnold

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers. Endorsed by multiple PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Tony Morse

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers/brokers, as well as those employed in security and a pro-gun lobbyist group. Endorsed by multiple PBA- backed politicians, at least one PBA-backed organization, and by the Portland Police Association.

Bob Weinstein

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers and PBA affiliates. Endorsed by current and former PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Eric Zimmerman

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers, law enforcement, and PBA members. Endorsed by PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Ben Hufford

Why Not: Received donations from real estate developers and PBA members. Endorsed by PBA-backed politicians and by at least one PBA-backed organization.

Brandon Farley

Why Not: Farley is a Portland-based videographer who frequently criticizes Portland’s progressive policies. On Twitter, he has identified his campaign as a protest against Portland’s new electoral system with the words: “Don’t vote for me, just watch for entertainment.”

Learn More

Ranked Choice Voting

In 2022, Portland voters approved Measure 26-228. This ballot measure made three changes to city government, with a goal of making our government more representative:

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 new 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

Useful Portland endorsement and candidate guides

We told you who not to vote for, but which candidates should you actually rank? Here are some candidate guides to point you in the right direction:

More about the PBA

The Big Blink presents lobbying data published by the City of Portland, including 12,075 lobbying incidents reported between January 7, 2014 and June 28, 2024.

Who Runs Portland? Powerpoint and video from the 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):

Portland's Climate Villains

From The Old Mole Variety Hour on KBOO radio (audio & text):

Plutocrats for Portland

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)

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