The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!
Good morning, Portland! It’s Election Day. Did you remember to turn in your ballot? If not, you’ve got until 8 pm to drop that puppy off at a ballot drop box.
If the torrential downpours of the last week have spooked you into hibernation mode, you’ll be happy to know that today is predicted to be cloudy but mostly dry, with a high of 56 degrees and a low of 48. We could even get some sunshine this Friday.
Let’s check in on the state of affairs locally, and around the globe.
IN LOCAL NEWS:
• It's Election Day today, and in Portland, that means it's time to make your final decision about renewing a levy that will help fund the city's parks and recreation programs. One person that won't be supporting it? Councilor Dan Ryan, who came out against the levy last week after voting to refer it to the ballot back in July. Ryan formerly served as the city's commissioner in charge of parks and recreation, prior to the local government transition at the beginning of this year. In that role, he oversaw some decisions that the City Auditor's Office called into question in a recent report. Ryan cited that report as part of his reasoning for voting against the levy, which some of his colleagues on the Council weren't too pleased about. (Councilor Mitch Green, for one, called his denunciation of the levy "unserious.") Find out more about Ryan's statement on the parks levy, and how other city councilors are feeling about the measure, in this essential read from Taylor Griggs.
• One of the most powerful homelessness prevention tools Multnomah County has at its disposal is the housing voucher. Rental vouchers, which typically cover the majority of a tenant’s rent, ensure that people with limited or no income can still keep a roof over their head. But recently, the county had to pause its rapid rehousing program after its state funding allotment fell short of what county leaders expected. The change means nearly 700 people won’t be offered the critical rent assistance they had expected to receive this fiscal year. The change comes as Portland’s mayor remains focused on investing city resources into temporary overnight shelters rather than programs that give people a direct path toward housing. Jeremiah Hayden explains the issue in his latest piece.
Multnomah County last week paused rapid rehousing program vouchers for nearly 700 homeless residents, including those that move people directly from shelter into housing. As Mayor Wilson expands Portland's overnight shelter capacity, critics say shelters could bottleneck without housing supports.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) November 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
[image or embed]
• A decade ago, a group of Portlanders fed up with runaway rent increases and skyrocketing homelessness banded together to declare a renters' state of emergency. That same year, City Hall declared a housing emergency. Ten years later, what's changed? "The stew of bad policy decisions that had been bubbling in the housing market for years were now overflowing. A government and corporate-made monsoon," Donovan Scribes writes. In his latest The Black Byline column, Scribes unpacks the dynamics of the effort, its outcomes, and why Portland's historically racist approach to housing shouldn't be ignored.
Ten years ago, a Renters' State of Emergency was declared. Today, Oregon has the highest eviction levels in its history. So what happened? @donovanscribes.bsky.social explains where we've been and where we must go in his latest excellent installment of THE BLACK BYLINE.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) November 3, 2025 at 12:20 PM
[image or embed]
• What are you doing this week? If your answer is still undetermined, let us help with the latest Do This, Do That roundup.
It's never been more autumnal than now—lean into the season with books, shoegaze, and a visit to the zoo. More in this week's Do This, Do That.
— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com) November 3, 2025 at 1:33 PM
[image or embed]
IN NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS:
• Former Vice President Dick Cheney died Monday at age 84. His family confirmed he died after complications from pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease. One of the most noteworthy aspects of Cheney’s death is that it didn’t happen sooner. According to the Washington Post, he suffered a heart attack at age 37–the first of five heart attacks that he survived–and had eight “cardiac events” from 2000 to 2008. Cheney, who served as President George W. Bush’s VP, is largely considered a key architect of the US “War on Terror.” In a pointed summary of Cheney’s legacy, the Post described him as a political figure who “recast an understudy’s job into an engine of White House power, becoming chief architect of a post-9/11 war on terrorism that involved bypassing restrictions against torture and domestic espionage.”
• New York City residents will elect a new mayor today, in one of the most closely-watched mayoral races in the country. The race is notable largely for its candidates–one of which is former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo–who is up against a much younger, more progressive frontrunner in New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani, 34, is shaking up the mayor’s race in the country’s largest city as a Democratic Socialist whose political rise has made him the new face of the political party. Worth noting: Mamdani has also faced heavy Islamophobic attacks. Two Republican lawmakers are leading the charge to try to strip the state representative of his citizenship by asking the US Department of Justice to investigate his naturalization process.
• A new report from government watchdog group Public Citizen reveals that most of the corporate donors to Trump's new, gargantuan White House ballroom have government contracts. The contracts amount to $279 billion over the past five years, according to the report. The largest government contractor on the donor list is Lockheed Martin, which secured $191 billion in federal contracts over the last five years. "Of the 24 corporate donors, 14 are facing federal enforcement actions and/or have had federal enforcement actions suspended by the Trump administration," Public Citizen reports, noting the donors have also spent a combined $1.6 billion on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past five years.
• Ever wondered what it would be like if we let Eric Cartman run the government? Look no further than this unhinged, racist MySpace-spoof page trotted out by the White House to troll Democrats. Yes, an official federal government website was turned into...whatever the hell this is.
I'll admit some of it elicits a chuckle, particularly the embedded Linkin Park song, and the "top 8" friends of Hakeem Jeffries, because holy shit, what a dated reference! But the rest is a shameless display of a government takeover by a band of low-information sociopaths whose primary hobby is jerking off into a sock in their parents' basement while trying to climb the ranks in Call of Duty, and Trump's inner circle. Hatch Act, be damned.
Meanwhile...
