Signatures and signals: April brings a flurry of campaign pledges.
Welcome to the April edition of Stump Talk, your end-of-the-month candidate tracker.
With sixty-eight candidates vying for twelve council seats, campaign pledges have become a popular tactic for candidates to signal their intentions to voters.
Chances are you’ve heard of Portland Street Response, Portland’s city program deploying unarmed teams to address mental health crises. But have you heard of the Save Portland Street Response Pledge?
Over twenty candidates have signed this pledge, circulated by the grassroots coalition Friends of Portland Street Response. Within sixty days of taking office, signatories commit to passing an ordinance to secure funding for Portland Street Response to operate citywide and around the clock. Additionally, the pledge binds councilors to support funding for the program’s 24/7 operations in every budget cycle and to establish it as a co-equal branch of the city’s first responder network.
Pledges send political cues to voters.
Why do candidates sign pledges? These commitments can be an efficient way to make campaign promises to voters and gain visibility in a crowded field. Candidates frequently post about their pledges on social media, and pledge organizers can help draw attention to candidates and mobilize voters.
But what about candidates who don’t sign the Save Portland Street Response Pledge? Should voters assume they don’t support the program? Not so fast. Some candidates, like Elana Pirtle-Guiney in District 2, prefer not to sign pledges with explicit budgetary commitments to avoid having to break promises to voters later.
“In some cases, that means I'm not signing pledges on issues that I strongly support,” Pirtle-Guiney told Rose City Reform.
Pirtle-Guiney hopes voters will instead consider her actions and statements, such as testifying in favor of expanded funding for Portland Street Response and listing the program as a priority on her website.
“But I'm not willing to sign a pledge committing to taking very specific actions when I don't know what the makeup of the council will be or how deep the budget cuts are that we'll need to make,” she says.
Anti-endorsement pledges: Less about money, more about ideology.
Pledges aren’t just about what candidates will do – sometimes, they signal what they won’t do. For instance, multiple candidates have signed the No Police Money Pledge and the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, rejecting contributions and endorsements from police unions and organizations associated with the coal, gas, and oil sectors.
While anti-endorsement pledges can come at some political cost, they also help communicate a candidate’s values to voters. For example, candidates who have signed both of these pledges – Candace Avalos and Timur Ender in District 1, Christopher Olson in District 2, Angelita Morillo and Robin Ye in District 3, and Andra Vltavín in District 4 – share backgrounds in organizing for criminal justice reform and climate action. For voters unfamiliar with these names, a quick glance at their pledges provides instant clues about their priorities.
Pledges don’t tell the whole story, however. Often, a candidate’s decision to decline a pledge is less about a specific issue and more about preserving relationships and the freedom to arrive at independent decisions.
Who joined the council race in April?
Michelle DePass, a member of the Portland School Board and the first person of color to chair it, entered the District 2 race. She was joined by Sam Sachs, founder of the racial justice organization The No Hate Zone, and Nabil Zaghloul, director of Multnomah County’s bilingual social services hub Bienestar de la Familia.
District 3 also saw three new faces this month. Kelly Janes, president of the Foster-Powell Neighborhood Association and founder of the web design firm OwlX Collective, threw her hat in the ring. So did Jonathan Walker, a freelance writer and policy analyst for the Oregon Health Authority, and Luke Zak, a political organizer and sales manager at Travel Salem.
Who dropped out?
Brooklyn Sherman exited the District 2 race, encouraging supporters to vote for James Armstrong instead. Armstrong, a small business owner and forensic accountant, recently played a key role in uncovering financial mismanagement at the nonprofit Alberta Main Street.
Who leads fundraising?
Rene Gonzalez holds steady as the top fundraiser in the mayor’s race with $130,400 raised. This month, Carmen Rubio overtook Mingus Mapps as the runner-up by raising $60,800 to Mapps’ $59,600.
The fundraising frontrunner in each council district is Steph Routh (D1) with $85,900 raised; Dan Ryan (D2) with $53,300; Angelita Morillo (D3) with $78,300 raised; and Olivia Clark (D4) with $88,000. Routh, Morillo, and Clark have all received a $40,000 public match from the city’s public campaign financing program, which is reflected in their total.
Want real-time election coverage? Head over to Rose City Reform’s daily candidate tracker.
Now, without further ado, here’s your April candidate round-up.
Candidates for Portland Mayor:
Incumbent:
Ted Wheeler (not seeking reelection)
Candidates for Portland City Council:
Each district elects three representatives.
DISTRICT 1 (D1) - EAST PORTLAND
Joe Furi (no website)
Thomas Shervey (no website)
Potential
Former County Commissioner Loretta Smith (rumored)
DISTRICT 2 (D2) - NORTH/NORTHEAST
Potential
Erin Crum (candidate committee)
District 3 (D3) - Central/Southeast
Matthew Anderson (no website)
Jonathan Walker (no website)
Potential
Ahlam Osman (candidate committee)
Rachel Clark (rumored)
District 4 (D4) - West
Potential
Kelly Michael Doyle (rumored)
John Toran (candidate committee)
Nik Blosser (rumored)
County Commissioner Sharon Meieran (rumored)
Candidates for Portland Auditor
Declared
Simone Rede (Incumbent)
Thanks, Scott! I just learned of this and updated the tracker. Best of luck to Marc in his other endeavors! Maja
Thanks for the updates! Looks like Marc Koller has dropped out of the District 2 council race (per his website).