Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan has ruled out a run for mayor in 2024.
Ryan’s office made the announcement Monday, as filings for the 2024 City Council race have already surpassed 40 candidates.
None of the current city commissioners have announced plans to run, with the exception of Commissioner Mingus Mapps, who is running for mayor. So far, Mapps’ only challenger is political newcomer Durell Kinsey Bey.
Mayor Ted Wheeler said earlier this year that he will not seek reelection, leaving speculation about what ambitions Commissioners Ryan, Rene Gonzalez, and Carmen Rubio might have under a revised city government that will include a 12-member City Council and a city administrator working in tandem with the mayor. Portland’s next mayor will be largely administrative and won’t vote with the council unless needed to break a tie. The mayor is the only council candidate that will be elected city-wide.
In his announcement, Ryan said he’ll decide whether to run for reelection in late January.
“While the role of Mayor was appealing and I am well-suited for the role, I decided a fourth city-wide campaign in three years is not my passion at this time,” Ryan stated. “I will remain focused on the challenges facing our city: livability, homelessness, untreated drug addictions, public safety, and economic development – which includes the arts – in all neighborhoods!”
Ryan, who grew up in Portland, was elected to the council in 2020 to fill the remainder of the council term of Nick Fish, who died earlier that year. He was reelected to the council in 2022.
Ryan currently oversees the city’s Parks & Recreation bureau, the offices of Community and Civic Life, Equity and Human Rights, and the Portland Children’s Levy. He also serves as commissioner of Culture and Livability, and the city’s arts liaison.
Most notably, Ryan was behind the city’s Safe Rest Village program and has been an advocate for transitional housing options to address homelessness.
In 2020, during his first year in office, Ryan’s North Portland home was targeted twice by protesters and vandalism, as the council was set to vote on controversial cuts to the police budget amid a nationwide reckoning over police brutality and racial justice.
Ryan voted against slashing the Portland Police Bureau budget at the time. More recently, he’s voted in line with the majority of the council to support a camping ordinance that essentially prohibits unhoused Portlanders from resting in public during daytime hours. The ordinance currently faces a legal challenge. Ryan also supported recent efforts by the council to criminalize open air drug use, pending state legislative action.
As Ryan mulls whether to seek election under Portland’s new form of government, he’s been reticent to embrace a speedy government transition timeline. Portland must have its new city structure up and running by January 2025.
Ryan is one of two others on council who proposed having commissioners serve as deputy city administrators until 2025, rather than hiring professionals as planned. Last month, he and three other commissioners effectively cemented their oversight of city bureaus for as long as possible, by voting against plans to move forward with a transition timeline that would see the council move away from managing city operations within the next six months.
He is the first openly HIV-positive member of Portland’s City Council. Prior to serving the city, he served on the Portland Public Schools Board of Education and was later tapped to be CEO of the youth-focused nonprofit, All Hands Raised.
