Campaign Season’s Underway, And City Council Candidates Are Popping Up All Over the Place

MLK Day has passed, the winter doldrums have set in, and suddenly there’s a whole hell of a lot of movement in this May’s races for mayor and city council, just four short months away.

Since we wrote about the candidacy of local architect Stuart Emmons this morning, candidates have been coming out of the woodwork—either to challenge Commissioner Steve Novick or vie for the seat Mayor Charlie Hales is leaving at the end of the year. And we’ve heard our first campaign news from Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who’s so far running unopposed for re-election.

Here’s a rundown:

•Longtime local activist Jessie Sponberg formally unveiled a campaign for mayor. It’s not much of a surprise—Sponberg’s been talking up his candidacy for months, and was

• Jessie Sponberg

distributing “Sponberg for Mayor” shirts in October. He filed for office on January 11, and will hold a kickoff party February 1, on Mount Tabor. Sponberg, host of local variety show Fight Church Television, has popped up in our coverage plenty over the years. He was a vocal member of the Occupy Portland movement, and helped lead the “Camp Cascadia” protest over the disconnection of Portland’s open-air reservoirs. He’s also been an advocate for the homeless. He dumped a truckload full of coats and blankets onto West Burnside in 2013, for instance, and led a pitchfork-wielding protest outside of City Hall in 2014. Sponberg launched a last-minute write-in bid for Multnomah County Sheriff in 2014. It was unsuccessful.

•Willamette Week is reporting that Sarah Iannarone, who works with Hales’ wife, Nancy, at Portland State University, is also planning a mayoral run—reportedly at the behest of the mayor. You might remember Iannarone from the time she helped Nancy Hales win a baking contest, which—given Iannarone’s history as a professional baker—the Oregonian insinuated amounted to cheating, dubbing the incident “Cakegate.” The mayor was not pleased. If Iannarone runs, there are at least 10 candidates vying for the Mayor’s Office, with state Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey seen as the likely frontrunners.

•Sue Stahl, a Portland disability rights advocate, announced this afternoon she’ll run against Novick. Stahl’s been a member of the Portland Commission on Disability since 2010, and was an outspoken member of the task force that spent much of last year scrutinizing new rules for cabs and services like Uber. She wound up leaving the task force in frustration. She says the experience “sharpened her knowledge on how a City Government is supposed to, and not supposed to, operate.” With Stahl in the race, Novick might be facing as many as eight challengers in May.

• Amanda Fritz

•Lastly, Commissioner Amanda Fritz made some announcements regarding her campaign today. Fritz, who previously planned to leave public office but changed course after the tragic death of her husband, plans to hold a campaign kickoff event this Thursday, at Pacific Pie Company on SE 7th. Like mayoral candidate Bailey, Fritz is opting to collect 100 valid signatures rather than pay a $50 filing fee to run in the race. She also announced that she’ll cap her campaign contributions at $500 for the race, which is sort of surprising. In 2012, when she faced a stiff competitor in state Rep. Mary Nolan, Fritz limited donations to $50 in the primary, raising that cap to $250 when the race went to a run-off. This time around, no one’s filed to challenge her. Fritz has received $725 in contributions since launching a campaign committee late last year, and loaned herself $4,000.

Remember, the deal with the May primary is that any candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote wins the seat outright. If that doesn’t happen, the two leading candidates advance to a November run-off.