Salem voters appear to have elected a new mayor. Julie Hoy, a restaurant owner and Salem city council member, appears to have defeated incumbent Chris Hoy, although he still has yet to concede. Julie Hoy holds a 12-point lead in the race, according to primary election returns posted on the Oregon Secretary of State’s website Friday morning. The two Hoys are unrelated.
According to the Salem Reporter, Julie Hoy raised nearly $300,000 — a record for a Salem mayoral race — mainly from businesses and real estate groups to help defeat the incumbent mayor who backed a payroll tax measure which voters overwhelmingly rejected last year. Julie Hoy joins us to talk about her vision for leading Oregon’s third-largest city and priorities when she takes office in January.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. It is looking like Salem is going to have a new mayor with the same last name. City council member Julie Hoy is leading one-term incumbent, Chris Hoy – no relation. It’s worth noting that Chris Hoy, at least as far as has been reported, has not yet conceded, but the race has been called by the Salem Reporter. And Julie Hoy’s lead, 12% points, has been consistent through each ballot counting update. Julie Hoy joins us now. Welcome and congratulations.
Julie Hoy: Thank you so much.
Miller: Am I right that Chris Hoy, the current mayor, has not at this point called you to concede?
Hoy: That’s correct.
Miller: Let’s get a little bit of background here. What made you decide to run for this unpaid position at a challenging time for the city? It may not be a thankless job, but it’s definitely salary-less.
Hoy: Yes, it is. Absolutely. I ran for council in the first place because I felt directed to it and I realized a lot about local elections and how they impact us most directly on the ground, on the streets. I got into council and heard talk of the imposition of a payroll tax and just felt something click. I was like, this is not OK. And I think we need to look at our budget and our processes and priorities before we reach in and take more money.
Miller: For folks who don’t remember those earlier conversations we had with the current mayor Chris Hoy, he was one of the champions of it and I think he said on Tuesday night that, as he was supporting it, he knew it might make him a one-term mayor. And you’re saying it’s what made you run for mayor. It seems like you both agree that this has been central to this race.
Hoy: Yeah, it’s a big deal and it seems like somebody’s not listening to the people when you’ll go ahead and go for that. It’s been a very interesting dynamic, that’s for sure.
Miller: And to remind folks that people did speak and they voted overwhelmingly against this.
Hoy: Oh yes they did. They did, they voted it down. They forced a referendum which took it to a ballot in November, and it failed 82% to 18%.
Miller: Why do you think you won?
Hoy: Oh my gosh. I am so over the moon and so grateful for all of the support. It was really a real grassroots effort, genuinely. Folks were out. Folks put up line lawn signs who don’t ever do that. Folks talk to people in the grocery store who don’t do that. I had friends call and say, “nobody’s ever called me and asked me who I should vote for and I had the pleasure of telling them about you.” And I believe that’s how it got done was people realizing we have a great need and wanting something better and different for Salem. And that’s how it got done – one conversation at a time. Folks gave generously to support the campaign, which certainly helped. And again, I just couldn’t be more grateful. It’s a great time to celebrate.
Miller: You raised around $300,000, a lot of it from business and real estate groups. It is about five times what the incumbent raised. Why do you think those business groups backed you?
Hoy: Well, it was business groups, yes. But I think it’s close to 300 donors to my campaign. And a lot of that was in-kind things, like mailers and postage and things like that. But the array of folks from all different walks of life gave generously because they really wanted to see something happen. Business owners, in particular in Salem, I feel and I’m one of them, have been terribly unheard and underrepresented in terms of facing our houseless and addicted and mentally ill populations in Salem. We are fighting to stay in business every day, dealing with some areas of town, worse than others. Our area, Northeast, is bad. Downtown is bad, certainly.
When you’ve got a fight to keep your establishment safe for customers to come in, that’s a big deal. When you have to clean up after those who are being allowed to do whatever it is they feel like doing in front of your business, everybody’s worn out and wants better and different in Salem. We want to feel supported without commerce, without business, what do you have? People need to be able to go where they can shop, and they need to be able to dine where they feel like dining and feel safe leaving their car.
Miller: So anyway, as you said, you were very much against the payroll tax as were the vast majority of Salemites, but do you agree that there is an urgent need for more revenue in Salem?
Hoy: I think there’s an urgent need for an examination of the process and the priorities. When I came on to council [and] the first budget cycle came around a little over a year ago – February of ‘23 – the budget book drops down in front of council one time. All of a sudden there it is. It’s three-and-a-half inches thick. It’s 460 pages, $757 million. And I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve owned a business. I’ve run a household. I know what a budget looks like, but not like that.
I took it to have coffee with a girlfriend the next morning and she eats budgets for breakfast and she took a look, and in less than 30 minutes, she found a million dollar error. And so I go back and I say, “what is this?” And then I continue thinking what else is in this book? I can’t, in good conscience, vote yes or no on this when I’ve had nothing to do with it.
So I just kind of took a different outlook on what we are doing and how we are operating that way. The city does not examine departments throughout the year. The city may. Council doesn’t have that opportunity. The city presents its budget proposal in February and then the city council and budget committee are given like four meetings to look at all that.
Miller: Are you saying that if the council takes a closer look at the budget, you’ll be able to find … what is a ballpark figure for how much savings you think you can find? And are you arguing that it’s commensurate with the financial situation the city overall is facing?
Hoy: No, I cannot answer that question. I do though have an interest in getting to the answer and I will do that. I think the people deserve to know what’s being spent and where it’s being spent and whether or not there are inefficiencies within city government. And we owe it to them to do that. We owe it to them at least to do things transparently. Certainly the city budget is on the website. Anyone with interest in time could actually go and look at it. But to earn and gain the trust of the people is absolutely necessary right now and that’s not been done.
Miller: You’ll take over in January. If you can’t answer that question now, when do you think you will be able to say definitively, this is the budget situation, let me present it to you clearly and tell you where things stand?
Hoy: Oh, that really is a great question …
Miller: I got one.
Hoy: You do?
Miller: [Laughter] No, no, sorry, go on.
Hoy: I thought you said you had the answer. [Laughter]
MIller: No, but I wasn’t just elected mayor.
Hoy: And what I need to do is build … I call them ramps. We need to start with where we are right now, which is victory and then we need to build the team around to figure out how we are going to look at, not only at the budget but public safety and our houseless addicted and mentally ill population. We need to work closely with the county which is not being done on those efforts in order to make livability reasonable in Salem.
And that’s top of mind for me and certainly, budget concerns are right in the middle of it. We spent $20 million on homelessness in 2023 as a city and we’re no better off.
Miller: Julie Hoy, I look forward to talking again, when you have more clarity about how you think the best way to proceed is after you take office, but thanks very much and congratulations again.
Hoy: Thanks again. Have a great day.
Miller: You, too. That’s Julie Hoy, the mayor-elect of Salem.
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