Portland City Hall, in Portland, Ore., July, 2023.
Caden Perry / OPB
Portlanders have just 24 hours left to join what’s gearing up to be a historic November council race. Tuesday is the last day people vying for a seat on Portland’s newly expanded city council or in the mayor or auditor’s office can file.
The full candidate lineup won’t be finalized until September 5, but the city’s current list shows that just under 90 people will be running for a spot in City Hall this fall. That includes 71 candidates for City Council and 15 candidates for mayor. Portland’s current City Auditor, Simone Rede, is running for reelection and has no competitors yet.
This is the first election in which Portland council candidates will be elected to represent geographic districts instead of the entire city. Under this new, voter-approved plan, each of the four districts will be represented by three councilors, expanding the city’s council body to 12 members.
As of Monday, most candidates are running for one of the three council positions in District 4, which encompasses all of Portland’s westside as well as Sellwood, Eastmoreland, and Reed neighborhoods in Southeast Portland. At least 26 candidates have filed to run in this district — exactly double the number of people who’ve entered the contest for District 1, which includes most Portland neighborhoods east of 82nd Avenue. So far, 14 people have entered the race for District 2, which encompasses almost all eastside neighborhoods north of Sandy Boulevard, stretching east to Northeast 82nd Avenue. Eighteen people have filed for District 3, which covers the Southeast neighborhoods south of Sandy Boulevard.
Most candidates running for city office are participating in the city’s Small Donor Election program, which matches the first $20 of all individual donations made to participating candidates 9-to-1, effectively turning a $20 donation into $180. But only some have qualified for the program — a step requires city staff to check that candidates have correctly reported the number and amount of donations received. Tuesday is also the last day that candidates can submit paperwork to the small donor program to qualify.
For now, just over 30 people have been green-lit for the program. Most of them have qualified for at least $40,000 in matching funds, with several gathering enough individual donations to reach $80,000. Council candidates can receive up to $120,000 total in matching funds, while mayoral candidates can collect up to $100,000.