Why subscribe to Rose City Reform?

This Substack is for anyone interested in Portland city politics, and also for those interested in election reform and alternative voting and representation models. In 2024, Portland became largest U.S. city to elect its council through proportional representation. Rose City Reform is a nonprofit research and journalism project to track that experiment.

We don’t tell you what to think.

While “reform” is in our name, we are not an advocacy organization. Our rigorous data journalism and in-depth interviews leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about whether Portland’s reform process is a success story, and whether our city’s model should be emulated elsewhere.

We love feedback.

We are driven by curiosity, not just about Portland’s reforms, but also by the questions submitted to us by readers. We love it when people reply directly to the newsletter with questions, feedback, tips, or requests for future research. If you like this newsletter, please don’t be a stranger. Your questions make our research better.

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