Portland has restructured its entire city council in what’s being seen as a system overhaul of the city’s progressive policies.
The liberal Oregon city expanded its council from four at-large seats to 12 seats total, three for each district. Portland will also now use ranked choice voting to decide both the city council and mayoral elections.
Nineteen people are currently running for mayor, and 98 people are running for city council with most campaigning on either moderate or progressive platforms. While the field is large, a majority are hoping to combat the city’s drug epidemic, homelessness crisis and dwindling population.
"I didn’t move to Portland because it was weird," mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez told Politico. "I moved to Portland because it was livable."
VAST MAJORITY OF PORTLAND RESIDENTS ARE 'DISSATISFIED' WITH PROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP OF THE CITY
According to Portland State University, Portland lost about 12,000 people between 2020 and 2023, equaling up to $1.1 billion of lost city revenue.
Candidates pointed to 2020 as an inflection point for the city after the passing of Measure 110 which largely decriminalized drugs by re-classifying possession of all drugs as a Class E violation with a maximum $100 fine. Since then, drug use and homelessness have largely increased.
"These were huge issues," mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio told Politico. "It was a perfect storm."
Another issue included the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, which lasted more than 100 days in Portland and often turned destructive. The city eventually established BLM policies like cutting the police department budget, but homicides reached a record level in 2022.
"Nobody considered that there would be an uptick in gun violence … especially in Black communities," city council candidate Terrence Hayes told Politico. "Because we didn’t really listen to those communities. We spoke for them, and we made decisions for them."
Gonzalez explained that at the time, there felt like there was a "default conversation" that shut down dissent until the drug and homelessness crises reached a boiling point.
"Political rhetoric in 2020-2021 in the City of Portland was incredibly ideologically driven," he said to Politico.
"Things got so bad that politicians could tell the truth," Gonzalez added. "I could be 100 percent honest and couldn’t be guilted into saying things different than what I was seeing."
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However, there continues to be confusion surrounding the new voting system with citizens concerned it may be too complicated for voters.
"We have no idea how these pieces fit together," Democratic Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer told Politico. "I don’t think anybody has fully thought through how these pieces will fit together."
