Portland City Council District 3 encompasses most of inner Southeast Portland from the east side of the Willamette River up to I-84 to the north, as well as a swath of Northeast and outer Southeast to I-205.
District 3 is one of two districts in which councilors elected in 2024 started out with two-year terms under Portland’s new city charter, to allow for the new 12-person City Council to have staggered terms. This November, 21 candidates are vying for three seats.
The Mercury tracked each candidate to find out who they are, why they’re running, and who’s backing their campaign.
Ali Beaudoin
Professional background: Beaudoin, 39, cites experience in the private sector, education, and small business. He holds an BA in economics and an MBA from the University of Portland. He is currently a business professor and is a business consultant focused on strategy, finance, and taxes. His experience includes working at large businesses including Nike and Berkshire Hathaway, where he says he led large, hundred-million dollar projects. He said through that work, he focused on bringing people together to focus on shared goals. Beaudoin says he’s focused on efficiency, and providing solutions to wasteful spending.
Political experience: None.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Beaudoin says there is a learning curve to the new form of city government. “We need greater courage from city leaders to be brave and not be popular at the cost of not being reelected; but doing the collective good,” he said. Beaudoin added that recent Moda Center discussions are a good example, in which the city offered up “packages to a billionaire; when the city is cutting funds really shows the lack of courage. Someone like me would be great at fighting for deals where citizens and the communities really benefit.”
Joel Corcoran
Professional background: Corcoran is a lawyer who owns a public interest firm called Reluctant Cynic Legal Services. He explains that at his firm, he’s “helping people build new businesses and organizations, public and private.” He has a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in forest genetics from Oregon State University, and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.
Political experience: Corcoran, who is queer, started campaigning against anti-gay ballot measures in the late ‘90s and early 2000s as a student at Oregon State University. In 2025, he was policy counsel for City Councilor Loretta Smith, and he was state counsel and constituent services director for Senator Jeff Merkley from 2012 to 2019. He has been an election observer and election protection attorney for 25 years.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: “Portland government doesn’t need more plans or ideas, we need follow‑through. I’m running to help the Council operate like a team, not a collection of solo projects. If we want people to trust the City again, we have to show that City Council can work cooperatively to deliver the basics to the People of Portland,” Corcoran wrote in his response to the Mercury’s questionnaire.
Along with uniting City Council over common goals, Corcoran also wants to encourage transparency in the city’s budget. Affordability is a big focus of his, and he wants the city to offer more options for housing, utilities, and grocery stores. His stance on policing is interesting if a little unclear, writing that he wants to “[address] public safety issues by rejecting nostalgia and seeking data-driven, holistic solutions (rather than debating the number of sworn police officers).” He also writes that he wants to “[plan] for a future where Portland cannot rely on federal funding.”
Guy Frankenstein
Professional background: Like many seeking a seat in District 3, Frankenstein is a political newcomer. He’s a democratic socialist and a militant anti-fascist who’s straight forward about his aim. Frankenstein, 43, has a background in auto insurance, but is currently in grad school. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminology and is currently studying for a master’s degree in human rights, focusing on systemic racism and policing.
Political experience: None. “I have no previous political experience and have absolutely no desire to work within politics, which is exactly why I am on the ballot,” Frankenstein says.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: “Federal agents of a fascist state patrol our streets, gas our neighbors, and terrorize our immigrant community, while City Council and state government offer empty words accompanied by zero action,” the candidate says. “I’m not running for City Council to be an effective team player. I’m running to personally escort ICE agents to the county line, bleed every billion dollar company operating within this city, be an unmovable wall between City Council and Keith Wilson’s performative bullshit, and to call for Tina Kotek to resign.”
Matthias Hallett
Professional background: Hallett is from Georgia and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, studying political science and economics. He received a law degree from Vermont Law School. Per Hallett’s website, his legal career has included “probate court administration, business law, real estate, and intellectual property.” He also says he founded a biotech startup focused on soil restoration.
Political experience: Hallett says he has worked on grassroots political organizing, directing political campaigns “across party lines.” It’s unclear which campaigns he was involved with.
Why Hallett is running and what he’d like to accomplish: Hallett did not respond to the Mercury’s campaign questionnaire. On his website, he describes his vision as a “pragmatic, solutions-first approach to complex problems.” Hallett’s main priorities are public safety (he advocates for more funding for the Portland Police Bureau, as well as for other crisis response services), keeping the Portland Trail Blazers in the city, “rooting out waste and fraud” in the city budget, and helping small businesses. Hallett says he supports the Safer Portland initiative which aimed to divert money from the Portland Clean Energy Fund to police hiring. In a podcast interview and on social media, Hallett has spoken against the DSA councilors, who he says are too focused on national issues. He appears to identify as a conservative. In a recent social media video, he seemed to endorse Christine Drazan for governor.
Notable endorsements and donations: Hallett filed a notice of intent but did not apply for certification for the Small Donor Elections program. State campaign finance records show he has received a little more than $2,000 in campaign donations. His website doesn’t list endorsements.
Patrick Hilton
Professional background: Hilton currently works as an operations manager and volunteer coordinator at a local museum. He’s also worked as a park ranger and cites a background in architectural design, urbanism, and ecology.
Political experience and civic engagement: Hilton, 50, hasn’t held elected office before. He’s making his second bid for Portland City Council, having run for District 3 in 2024.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Hilton has a lot to say about the city’s approach to land use policy, growth, and housing. He’ll be the first to say he’s sick of the generic-looking boxy architecture that comes with affordable housing.
He’s running on a “preserve, don’t demolish” platform that seeks to limit the demolition of existing buildings to make way for new housing. A lot of what he advocates seems to conflict with increased housing density (i.e. multi-family housing complexes). His website features an almost certainly AI-generated video comparing images of a Victorian-era home to a high-rise apartment complex and an image of a garbage-filled nature trail to one of a tidy path as a value proposition to Portlanders.
“I’ll champion adaptive reuse, historic preservation, community land trusts, and co-housing to help renters like me become owners, while supporting responsible local landlords and protecting long-term tenants from unfair displacement,” Hilton says. “We must stop the lobbyist driven, council supported Eastside Rezoning Project.” The project he refers to would change the zoning in areas of Portland’s inner eastside to increase housing density.
He wants to keep corporate businesses out of the city’s main walking and shopping districts like Belmont and Hawthorne, and he also wants to enforce the city’s camping ordinance that makes it illegal to sleep in public spaces if a shelter bed is available.
Larry Kelly
Professional background: Larry Kelly is still fairly new to Portland. Kelly, 43, moved here from Bellingham, Washington two years ago. He has a degree in biochemistry and has worked as a chef for the past 20 years.
Political experience: None
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: “I’m running for office because I love Portland; the cuisine, the art, the parks, the Portland Fire, the greenways, and most of all the community,” Kelly says. “It is a very special place where anyone can safely live their truth.”
Kelly believes his experience in professional kitchens would translate to City Hall. “I’m a chef by trade and a chemist by education. One taught me how to ask better questions and measure results, while the other taught me how to work with others to solve problems,” he says. “When the dishwasher breaks, the order is late, and your best server is out with the flu, you still need to serve the people. It takes communication, cooperation, and collaboration. And I would bring those qualities to City Hall to confront the issues facing Portland.”
Tiffany Koyama Lane
Professional/political background: Koyama Lane, 40, is a current City Council member who was elected in 2024. Prior to her City Council run, Koyama Lane was a teacher at Sunnyside Environmental School. She was also a union leader with the Portland Association of Teachers.
Time in office: Koyama Lane served as City Council vice president during her first year in office. On Council, she has advocated for transportation policies and commitment to Portland’s Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries. She has also championed successful legislation to codify Portland’s Sanctuary City status and update civil rights codes to protect LGBTQIA2S+ Portlanders. Among other things, the resolution established that the city of Portland will not dedicate resources to support anti-trans criminalization.
Koyama Lane has been a strong advocate for a private financial commitment in the Moda Center renovation, saying she won’t vote to approve any city funding for the project if the Trail Blazers ownership group doesn’t chip in. Koyama Lane was one of four councilors to vote against the resolution advancing the renovation term sheet.
Notable endorsements and donations: Koyama Lane has secured $200,000 in small donor funds—the most of any candidate so far this election. She is a member of Portland DSA and has been endorsed by the organization. She has also received endorsements from progressive groups including Portland for All, Oregon Working Families Party, Sunrise Movement PDX, and Next Up Action Fund, and unions including the Portland Association of Teachers, AFSCME Council 75 and Local 189, Laborers 483, and more. She has also been endorsed by members of the Oregon Legislature including Representatives Rob Nosse, Mark Gamba, Willy Chotzen, Thuy Tran, and Senator Khanh Pham, as well as former Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and former Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
Kenneth Landgraver
Professional background: Kenneth Landgraver is an instrument technician for Oregon’s Occupational Safety & Health Division (OSHA). He’s also a retired Oregon Army National Guardsman.
Political experience: None.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Landgraver has no campaign website and doesn’t appear to be running much of a campaign. When he ran for a seat in District 3 in 2024, he told the Mercury he was generally opposed to criminalizing homelessness and wanted to see more shelter beds available, while also being a strong supporter of fully staffing the Portland Police Bureau. He also said he’d like to see Portland “become a center of excellence for behavioral health” and truly treat its addiction crisis.
Keir Legree
Professional background: Legree, 54, is the general manager of Savoy Studios, a lighting and art glass studio. He is also the founder of a project scheduling software startup called PlanXT.
Political experience: None
Why Legree is running and what he’d like to accomplish: Legree says he’s running because “Portland leaders need to be honest with themselves that a new approach is needed to solve our homelessness crisis.” On his website, he lists his preferred approaches to addressing homelessness, including requiring people to engage with drug recovery or pursue employment in order to access homeless services. He also calls for more social housing, more consistent camping enforcement, and Bottle Bill reform. Legree also says he wants to hold the Portland Water Bureau accountable for rising water and sewer rates.
Esther León
Professional background: León, 33, is a physical therapist who currently provides care to Oregon’s incarcerated population. She previously spent two years teaching at the community college level.
Political experience and civic engagement: None.
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: She says her role as a physical therapist and an educator have given her an intimate view of the problems affecting society’s health and well being. “The in-affordability [sic] of housing, insurance, transportation, and even basic groceries, to the stress of rising fascism, climate change, insufficient social services, and an ever-polarizing public discourse” have catalyzed her campaign.
On her website, León advocates for prioritizing Portland Street Response funding, increasing public access to bathrooms like those at city parks, and “re-wilding” unused concrete lots back to green spaces. She’s also got another novel idea: bring back public payphones. The concept: improve public safety by making them available for emergency use and reduce dependence on cell phones.
The candidate cites her unique skill in team collaboration, interpersonal communication, and keeping focused on tangible goals, though some of the things she proposes (like reviving payphones) seem admirable, if not lofty. León proposes investing in several new programs like on-site childcare for city employees and free language classes at the community college level, but she also says Portlanders are over-taxed. She’d like to see a vacancy tax implemented on properties, but wants property taxes to go down. Way down. In an effort to ease the tax burden and encourage development, León proposes converting Portland’s property tax assessment to a land value tax, where the owner of a vacant lot would pay the same property tax as a lot on the same street with an apartment complex on it.
León says she’s jumping into the race for Portland’s District 3 Council seat because “life doesn’t have to be this way.”
“I believe Portland is ready to lead the change,” León says. “Because I believe we need more everyday people standing up to shape our community in a way that serves us, I said, ‘why not me?’ We all deserve dignity, housing, healthcare, nutrition, clean and safe streets, and a thriving community network. Our current City Council is in constant deadlock when it comes to making meaningful moves toward these goals.”
Notable donations: León hasn’t listed any endorsements but is participating in the city’s Small Donor Elections program and has received $28,700 in matching funds toward her campaign. State records show she’s received $35,730 in total campaign contributions as of August 31.
Darren McCormick
Professional/political background: McCormick did not respond to the Mercury’s candidate questionnaire, but according to his LinkedIn profile, he is a researcher, administrator, and writer. He’s also listed as the “Red Alliance” co-chair for Braver Angels of Portland, a national citizens movement to reduce polarization in politics by bringing liberals and conservatives together in conversation.
Political experience: McCormick did not respond to the Mercury’s candidate questionnaire and appears to have no campaign website, but a Substack he ran up until October 2025 gives a sense of what McCormick is about. There, readers can find posts titled “Council Denounces Federal Immigration Enforcement & Provides Sanctuary to Illegals,” a post outlining legal arguments and why the protests at the ICE facility last year “warrants additional law enforcement” in McCormick’s opinion, and another post titled “Portland City Council Engages in Mild Secession, Opposes National Borders, Ignores Distinction Between Legal and Illegal Immigrants, Harbors Criminal Illegal Aliens, Denounces Federal Law Enforcement, Employs Radicalizing Extremist Rhetoric, Wastes Money, Refuses to Enforce the City’s Laws, Refuses to Allow National Guard to Enforce Federal Laws, and Commits to Racist Equity” after the City Council voted unanimously to denounce President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard to Portland.
His filing paperwork simply states: “More cops. Lock up the dangerously unstable drug zombies.”
Angelita Morillo
Professional/political background: Morillo, 30, is a current City Council member, elected to represent District 3 in 2024. Prior to her time as a councilor, Morillo worked as a policy advocate for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and as a constituent relations manager for former Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office.
Time in office: Since entering office in 2025, Morillo has advocated for renter protections and eviction prevention, police accountability and public safety reform, and led efforts to combat federal overreach at the local level. Morillo successfully brought forward an ordinance to ban algorithmic rental price-fixing software, which she said was driving up housing prices and disenfranchising renters.
She has also championed housing permitting reforms, pushed for an investigation into the city’s relationship with oil transport company Zenith Energy, and led efforts to combat the influx of ICE activity in Portland. Morillo has also been skeptical of the city committing hundreds of millions of dollars to a potential Moda Center renovation, voting “no” on the resolution to advance a term sheet for the project.
Notable endorsements and donations: Morillo has secured roughly $159,930 in Small Donor Elections funds. She is a member of Portland DSA and has been endorsed by the organization, as well as other progressive groups including Portland for All, Sunrise PDX, and Next Up Action Fund. She has also been endorsed by unions including the Portland Association of Teachers, AFSCME Local 189, and Laborers Local 483. Morillo has also secured endorsements from state legislators including Representatives Mark Gamba, Willy Chotzen, Thuy Tran, and Senator Khanh Pham, former Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and former Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
Steve Novick
Background: Steve Novick is a current city councilor. He’s also an environmental lawyer who previously worked in former Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s office as a special assistant attorney general in the natural resources section. He previously served on Portland City Council from 2013 to 2017 but got ousted by former City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly. Novick ran again in 2024 and was elected as one of three councilors to represent District 3.
Time in office: During his first stint on City Council, he was the chief architect and champion of a 10-cent gas tax hike approved by voters. He also tried unsuccessfully to pass a street fee to fund the city’s transportation bureau. Since taking office in 2025, Novick, who currently chairs the city’s Community and Public Safety Committee, has focused more on policing and public safety issues. He’s focused on extreme risk protection orders–which keep guns out of the hands of those deemed likely to harm themselves or others. The District 3 councilor co-sponsored an ordinance creating a data privacy office at the city and has spoken out against using the city’s Clean Energy Fund for renovating the Moda Center.
Novick is known to be a swing vote on many issues, but tends to vote more often with the more moderate faction of councilors and less frequently in lockstep with his democratic socialist colleagues.
Notable endorsements and donations: He’s secured endorsements from labor groups like SEIU Oregon, Northwest Oregon Labor Council, Portland Firefighters Local 43, AFSCME, IBEW, and others. He’s also got the backing of state leaders like Reps Andrea Valderrama, Willy Chotzen, Thuy Tran, Rob Nosse, and Mark Gamba, as well as Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read.
Novick has racked up nearly $173,000 in campaign contributions, according to state records, including Mayor Keith Wilson’s chief of staff, former City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, the Oregon Business Council president, and Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards. Novick has also racked up a sizable number of out-of-state donations—18 since 2025 totaling $6,200.
Cristal Otero
Professional background: Otero, 43, currently works as a senior program specialist for the Multnomah County Homeless Services Department. She brings over a decade of experience working in social services and public services, and has also worked in community health and mental health services. She attended Evergreen State College, and holds a master’s degree in social work from Portland State University. Otero has eight years of experience working in direct service with homeless residents, people with mental illnesses and addiction.
Political experience: While Otero’s government experience has been on the implementation side rather than in elected office, she previously served as a Mark O. Hatfield fellow in local government. Otero ran for City Council District 3 in 2024 and lost. “That experience is part of why I’m running again: I know how different a policy can look once government actually has to carry it out,” Otero said.
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: “I’m running because City Hall is too willing to count spending as an accomplishment,” Otero tells the Mercury. “The current Council inherited a difficult transition, and I agree with some of what it has done. But after a year and a half, residents should be able to ask: What changed? For whom? And did it work?” Otero lists five key priorities on her website, all of which she says are governed by the central question: Can ordinary people build a stable, fulfilling life in Portland? Those priorities include making housing, whether renting or buying, more affordable, along with lowering the costs of everyday expenses like utilities and childcare; workers’ rights, including the right to organize, fair wages, good benefits, and safe working conditions; investing in community services that are particularly valuable to children, like parks, libraries, and safe routes to school; demanding government transparency when it comes to how tax dollars are being used, and avoiding further taxes on low and middle-income Portlanders; and supporting neighborhood safety and wellbeing by improving emergency response times, offering services like mental healthcare, improving the environment, and preparing for natural disasters. “I know how a good policy can get weakened by poor execution, and how difficult it can be to change course once government has built a system around it,” Otero said.
Terry Parker
Professional background: Currently retired, Terry Parker previously worked as a national account rep for Yellow Pages, the phone book company.
Political experience and civic engagement: Parker, 76, hasn’t held elected office, but he served on two ODOT citizen advisory committees, including one in the 1970s that recommended the Portland region’s first MAX light rail line, as well as improvements to I-84. He’s been a member of his neighborhood association board since 2012.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: The candidate says Portland needs a “maintenance first” policy for streets and parks, and wants to make sure the city follows its own comprehensive plan policy that dictates costs for all public facilities should be “equitably shared” by all who benefit from them. Translation: He thinks cars are overpaying for road infrastructure and any attempts to improve roads for things like bikes and buses will make traffic congestion worse and drive up costs.
Parker also has a hard-line approach to drugs, homelessness, and crime: crack down on all of it.
“Portland police and fire bureaus need full funding. This includes increasing the number of police officers and making sure all fire stations and vehicles are fully staffed,” Parker says. “Vigorously crack down on drug dealing. And finally, the City Council needs a process of finding middle ground when two sides can not agree.”
Heart Free Pham
Professional background: Pham currently works as a security officer at Willamette University’s downtown Portland campus. He has previously worked as a railroad conductor and an English teacher abroad. He has a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Puget Sound.
Political experience: None, though Pham ran for City Council District 3 in 2024 and lost.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Pham did not reply to the Mercury’s questionnaire. On his campaign website, he writes, “I want to elevate the conversation: prioritize the issues Portlanders can actually do something about, approach them with empathy and logic, and stop pretending every problem can be solved with a slogan.” He says homelessness should not be criminalized, but supports consequences for refusing services and wants to “modernize the civil commitment process to give the unsheltered mentally ill an actual path to recovery.” He wants to examine whether high taxes are driving away Portlanders, especially high earners, before enacting any additional taxes. He suggests addressing the housing affordability crisis by using hemp blocks to build new housing. He writes that although violent crime is down, he wants to address property crime because it affects small businesses and therefore the local economy. He also wants to address Oregon’s lagging test scores and offer more outdoor school, as well as what he calls “genuinely practical subjects: psychology, philosophy, home economics, and shop.”
Tom Sollitt
Professional background: Sollitt, 41, says he has a background in “communications, programming, and events.” He recently organized events including an Asian American makers market and business pitch competition. Sollitt, an adoptee from South Korea, has lived and worked in both the US and Korea.
Political experience: None
Why Sollitt is running and what he’d like to accomplish: Sollitt says he’s running because he believes “Portlanders too often have their needs ignored, even when they organize and demonstrate support in the hundreds or thousands.” Sollitt has been supportive of the Save Lloyd campaign’s vision for the Lloyd Center. Other priorities listed on his website include public safety (Sollitt says “Portland needs to increase police staffing, but we should be intentional about where those positions go…and keep pace with increasing public demand for police accountability”), government accountability, and “community voices in government.” Sollitt says he has treated his campaign as a lengthy job interview, involving many appearances at local community events. Much of his political vision appears to revolve around the idea that local elected officials should be deeply embedded in the communities they serve.
Notable endorsements and donations: Sollitt has received $32,780 from the Small Donor Elections program. His website says he has been endorsed by a Metro Councilor and former State Senator, but doesn’t list who. Sollitt says he will not take or seek endorsements or campaign contributions from organizations receiving money from the city of Portland or those that regularly lobby the city government.
John Sweeney
Professional background: John Sweeney is a retired Portland Parks & Recreation supervisor. He’s also a retired captain in the Oregon Army National Guard. At 86, he’s decided to run for Portland City Council. It’s not his first political run. Sweeney made a bid for a District 3 seat in 2024.
Prior political experience: Sweeney previously served on the Multnomah Education Service District Board of Directors, during which time he railed against bilingual education as a “waste of money.” He also launched unsuccessful bids for the Portland Public Schools Board in 2015, Oregon governor in 2022, and ran for City Council in 2024.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Sweeney says he’d like to use his management background to “help guide [Council] through these trying times.”
“With the property values downtown dropping so low. All governments are short on money,” the candidate notes. “I am a team player and want things fixed.”
Kellie Torres
Professional background: Torres works for Portland Parks & Recreation as an external affairs and partnerships manager. She previously served as Commissioner Dan Ryan’s chief of staff during his first City Council term. Prior to that, Torres worked as an elementary school teacher before going on to lead educational equity initiatives at local nonprofit All Hands Raised.
Political experience and civic engagement: This marks Torres’s first bid for public office, but the District 3 candidate has experience crafting public policy. She credits her work with former Commissioner Nick Fish for helping build public-private partnerships that secured funding for Portland Parks & Recreation’s Summer Free For All program, which provides free lunch, games, and activities for youth around the city.
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: “I’m running because Portland needs practical, progressive leaders who know how to move from conversation to action,” Torres says, noting real progress comes from “bringing people together, making difficult decisions, and delivering on commitments.”
Torres is part of an emerging effort to shift the lexicon of “progressive” political leadership.
If elected, Torres says she’d aim for measurable results. “That means safer neighborhoods, reliable core services, thriving small businesses, well-maintained parks and public spaces, and housing solutions that move people toward stability,” she says. “It also means building a city that is easier to work with, whether you’re a neighborhood volunteer, nonprofit, labor organization, or local business.” She’s focused on small businesses, economic vitality, and housing affordability, but her website priorities don’t mention how she’d help tackle Portland’s very real homelessness crisis.
Notable endorsements and donations: Torres has unlocked $74,000 in matching funds so far via the city’s Small Donor Elections program. She’s also picked up endorsements from Mayor Keith Wilson, Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, former City Commissioner Mingus Mapps and several labor groups, including the Portland Fire Fighters’ Association. Her campaign has picked up more than $157,000 in donations, including from Portland Metro Chamber President Andrew Hoan, Councilor Dan Ryan, and former City Hall staffers including former City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez’s chief of staff and former Deputy City Administrator Sonia Schmanski, among others.
Kimberly Tucker
Professional background: Kimberly Tucker specializes in behavioral analysis and special education. She’s a board certified autistic and ADHD behavior analyst serving both children and adults. Tucker, 34, is also a volunteer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Multnomah County.
Prior political experience: None. “While I do not have any direct prior political experience, one of my parents was an elected official in various positions throughout my childhood, so I spent a lot of my time surrounded by people in that sphere and carried that passion for local politics (though with differing beliefs) into adulthood.”
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: Tucker touts her lack of campaign spending, pledging to run on less than $1,500, putting her just under the state threshold for campaign finance reporting. That may seem admirable at first glance, but it will disadvantage her in a crowded field of candidates running serious campaigns, especially since Portland has a Small Donor Elections program designed to keep big money out of local elections.
Still, Tucker says she’s “embracing the weirdness and compassion Portland thrives on by representing its citizens from the viewpoint of a neighbor instead of a politician.”
“I believe that while the current city council members have their hearts in the right place, there is a lack of accountability for and consideration of the whys behind many of the programs we are or are not currently funding as well as an increasingly concerning demonstration of poorly allocated funding due to flawed, incomplete, or wholly non-existent cost-benefit analyses.”
Martin Ward
Professional background: Ward, 35, is a professional and perennial candidate in Oregon politics. He recently mounted an unsuccessful campaign in the 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary, and also ran for mayor of Portland in 2024. In the state voter pamphlet last spring, Ward listed his occupational background as “canvassing.”
Political experience: None
Why Ward is running and what he’d like to accomplish: Ward did not respond to the Mercury’s candidate questionnaire. In his voter pamphlet profile for the gubernatorial race, he said he wanted to ban abortion and gender-affirming care and make it more difficult for gay couples to get married. On his website, he lists many political goals, including plans to equip Portland police with remote restraining devices and tranquilizer dart guns, and to build more prisons and jails. He also lists plans to eliminate almost every local tax and fee. Most of his ideas are far outside the scope of what a Portland City Council member could accomplish.