Our Favorite Photos From Last Night’s Portland Election Parties

We came, we saw candidates win and lose, and we ate some free snacks.

You can read our intrepid reporting from last night’s election parties here—but we wanted to share some of our favorite photos from the Portland city commissioner and Oregon governor campaign parties as well.

News editor Alex Zielinski’s first stop was Knute Buehler’s party, where all of our collective conservative aunts and uncles pouted as early election results rolled in.

Womp-womp. ALEX ZIELINSKI

Alex made it out of there alive and skipped over to Kate Brown’s party at the Hilton, where our nation’s first queer governor was basking in the glow of a hard-fought reelection. (Not pictured: Kate’s husband, Dan, who apparently got a big applause line! Go Dan!)

Whose kids are these? ALEX ZIELINSKI

The Mercury’s staff photographer Meg Nanna was on the scene at Loretta Smith’s and Jo Ann Hardesty’s election parties, where the moods were decidedly… different. Here are Smith supporters eating chicken wings and macaroni and cheese at the Billy Webb Elks Lodge:

This was the only venue where Black people could socialize in Portland when Smith’s grandparents moved here during WWII. MEG NANNA

And here’s a little boy cheering at Holocene shortly after 8 pm, when it was clear Hardesty had won decisively, becoming the first Black woman on the Portland City Council.

This kid couldn’t wait to show off his dance moves for Jo Ann. MEG NANNA

And here’s the woman of the hour, toasting the crowd during her victory speech:

I’ll have what she’s having! MEG NANNA