City Council District 4 encompasses most of Northwest and Southwest Portland, as well as a swath of Southeast from Macadam Avenue to Campesinos Boulevard (recently renamed from Cesar E. Chavez Blvd).
Twelve candidates are running for three seats in District 4. It’s one of two Council districts in which those elected in 2024 are serving two-year terms under Portland’s new city charter, rather than a standard four years, to allow for the 12-person City Council to have staggered terms. The Mercury tracked each candidate to find out who they are, why they’re running, and who’s backing their campaign.
Timothy TJ Anderson
Professional background: Anderson, 37, is pursuing degrees in business administration and business economics, and has a professional background in cooking prior to experiencing nerve damage. He turned to civics, business, and economics after a diagnosis.
Political experience: No elected office. Experience in volunteer committees.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Anderson says he’s running because Portland needs leaders willing to put solving problems ahead of building political careers. He doesn’t see political office as a stepping stone, or a lifelong career. Anderson sees a disconnect between City Hall and many Portlanders, adding that housing insecurity and financial struggles look different from positions of comfort. A disabled college student, Anderson has been homeless and believes that experience gives him a unique perspective. “My priorities are making sure tax dollars are accountable, small businesses can thrive, and people can afford to build a future here. Portland does not need more politicians focused on political advancement. It needs leaders willing to take responsibility for the problems in front of us.”
Eli Arnold
Professional background: During Portland’s racial justice protests in 2020, Arnold, 46, was on the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) riot response squad. He’s also been on PPB’s bike squad for the past nine years. Prior to that, Arnold served in the US Army as an intel analyst and a Blackhawk pilot.
Political experience: None. Arnold helped found the political action nonprofit Partnership for Progress in early 2025. He previously ran for Portland City Council in 2024.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Arnold says he’s running to make Portland “affordable, safe, and thriving.” He says the cost of living is high, the public safety system can’t reliably meet public needs, and the economy is struggling, adding that the city needs to “correct course.” He said the current Council sees “clean division along ideological lines,” and that councilors need to “relinquish their ideal for an acceptable compromise that keeps us moving.”
Notable endorsements and donations: Arnold has picked up a handful of endorsements so far, including the Portland Firefighters Association, the gun safety group Moms Demand Action, and the Go Portland Go campaign—largely backed by Partnership for Progress, the conservative/moderate political nonprofit he helped start. Other conservative/moderate leaders have also endorsed, including Multnomah County chair candidate Sharon Meieran, and District Attorney Nathan Vazquez. Civic leader endorsements include Lance Orton of the treatment-first homelessness nonprofit City Team, Lisa Schroeder of Mother’s Bistro, Bob Weinstein (one of two people who run Partnership for Progress), and a number of people and businesses that are Go Portland Go campaign signatories.
Olivia Clark
Professional/political background: Clark, 71, is one of three councilors currently serving District 4. She has a storied history in Oregon politics, serving in former Governor John Kitzhaber’s office, and was a liaison for former Governor Barbara Roberts. She also worked with TriMet to secure funding for the Green and Orange line light rail expansion and the Tillikum Crossing. Clark has been a board member for multiple organizations, including Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), Providence Health Systems, and was a founding member of Casa of Oregon—an organization that helped build farmworker housing.
Time in office: While in office, Clark has passed a few pieces of legislation, and currently serves as Council vice president. Alongside Councilors Mitch Green, Loretta Smith, and Eric Zimmerman, she pushed a resolution for a sidewalk improvement program through the Council to improve accessibility in underserved areas of the city. She was also pivotal in passing the Transportation Utility Fee, a $12 annual fee per household to help maintain city streets. Clark also introduced a budget amendment in 2025, which ultimately passed, to create work groups to interact with city bureaus addressing safety at the Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub. In 2026, Clark blocked a proposed amendment that would have allowed citizen enforcement of the city’s agreement with a new fossil fuel company expected to take over operations at the CEI Hub.
Notable endorsements: Clark has garnered a handful of endorsements in this election cycle so far, including the Portland Firefighters Association, and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council. Other labor union endorsements include the Columbia Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council, IBEW Electrical Workers Local 48, Ironworkers Local 29, North Coast States Carpenters Union Local 503, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, LiLUNA Local 737, SEIU Oregon, and AFSCME Local 189. She’s also grabbed endorsements from the nonprofit developer Multifamily Northwest, the transportation justice advocacy organization Street Trust Action Fund, and Moms Demand Action Gun Sense. A group deeply involved with the “Safer Portland” effort to move climate dollars to hire more police officers, Future Portland Action Fund, also endorsed Clark.
Jayne Cronlund
Professional background: A small business owner, Cronlund has lived in Portland since 1997. She’s a member of the Oregon State Bar, and led a land conservation nonprofit from 1997 to 2009.
Political experience: In 2006, Cronlund helped craft land conservation policy at the state level with Defenders of Wildlife, and has been a volunteer community organizer with Oregon League of Conservation Voters. She was also VP of Southwest Neighborhoods Inc., and a member of the Willamette Women Democrats.
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: Cronlund said the city’s economy is “at a low point with many local businesses closing or in jeopardy,” but that she is a voice for small business and the creative community that make Portland unique. She said the current Council is divided, but she wants to bring strategic planning, team building, collaboration, and listening experience to craft a unified vision. “Charter reform brings the continuing opportunity to restructure how the city does business,” Cronlund said. “I will be a voice for focusing on essential services, improving fiscal transparency and rebuilding trust with citizens. Folks are discouraged by the vibes at City Hall.” She added that she finds youthful involvement energizing and uplifting, something she’d like to bring to the Council.
Notable endorsements and donations: Cronlund has received $53,860 in campaign contributions as of September 11, including 41,520 from the city’s Small Donor Elections program. Cronlund is endorsed by former City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, as well as West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District Board Chair Terri Preeg Riggsby.
Jamey Evenstar
Professional background: Evenstar, 50, worked for the city from 2016 to 2026. Prior to working in government, she worked at various nonprofits, including for an anti-coal coalition in Alaska, and in social work with adults with disabilities and abused children and their families.
Political experience: Evenstar has not held political office before, but has political experience in the city. Most recently, she served as chief of staff in Councilor Candace Avalos’ office. Evenstar was a policy director in former Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office, working on tenant protections, Rose Lane bus projects, and special projects with PBOT. She also helped implement Portland’s new government charter as an analyst on the transition team.
Why she’s running and what she’d like to accomplish: “I believe Portland can do hard things,” Evenstar said when asked why she’s running. “I’ve seen it happen and I’ve helped make it happen.” Evenstar said the city needs more people serving on Council who bring accountability, focused priorities, and effective government to address the affordability crisis and “deliver stable homes, stable families, and stable lives.” She said there are still ways to ensure the new government structure lives up to its promises as a more inclusive, accessible, and representative government. “I worked for almost ten years in the old form and in the new and I have the relationships and skills needed to help move us in the right direction and break through the deadlocks that are preventing our progress.”
Notable endorsements and donations: Evenstar has qualified for the city’s Small Donor Elections Program and picked up a number of endorsements thus far, including from City Councilors Jamie Dunphy and Angelita Morillo, state elected officials like Mark Gamba and Khanh Pham, and Metro Councilor Duncan Hwang. She also picked up notable endorsements from Portland Public Schools board members and other education leaders, community leaders like social housing expert Helmi Hisserich, disability justice advocate Cassie Wilson, planning commissioner Steph Routh, and former District 4 candidates Chad Lykins and Lisa Freeman. A handful of labor groups have also endorsed: Oregon AFSCME Council 75, AFSCME Local 189, PROTEC17, political advocacy groups Portland For All, Building Power for Communities of Color, The Ebony Collective Coalition, APANO Action Fund, Latino Network Action Fund. Sunrise PDX, Sierra Club, Next Up Action Fund, The Street Trust Action Fund, Pro-Animal Oregon, and Gray Panthers.
John Goldsmith
Professional background: Goldsmith did not respond to the Mercury’s candidate questionnaire. He doesn’t have a campaign website either. In a Facebook video, he calls himself an artist, advocate, and essential worker, saying he has a long history in the arts.
Political experience: None. Goldsmith also mounted a run for City Council in 2024.
Mitch Green
Professional background: Green is a PhD economist, anti-war Army veteran, and a current District 4 councilor. Before taking office, he worked as a risk analyst with the Bonneville Power Administration, focusing on energy economics and climate change. He also previously taught economics courses at the community college level.
Political experience: Green was elected to a two-year City Council term in 2024 under the city’s new form of government. He’s a member of the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, and has found common cause with other progressive councilors. Since taking office, he’s focused on holding fossil fuel companies accountable at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, and been a vocal advocate for social housing—investing over $17 million toward permanently affordable city-owned properties. He and his colleagues passed legislation to make the landlord of the ICE facility—which is in District 4—pay a fee for negative impacts of federal agents’ use of tear gas and other munitions. Green has been a central figure in asking the Council to use its oversight authority, including to find out why Portland Housing Bureau had more than $150 million in unbudgeted funds, and how the city facilitated permitting for the fossil fuel company Zenith Energy. He was also the chief sponsor of an ordinance passed by the Council that will ban the sale of foie gras in the city.
Notable endorsements and donations: In addition to qualifying for $162,400 from the Small Donor Elections program, Green is endorsed by local political institutions, including Portland DSA, Working Families Party, Portland For All, and Next Up Action Fund. He’s also received endorsements from a long list of labor unions: AFT-Oregon, SEIU Oregon, Laborers’ Local 483, North Coast States Carpenters Union, AFSCME Oregon and AFSCME Local 189, Teamsters 37, and Protec17. Education unions also endorsed: Portland Association of Teachers, the Portland Community College faculty and staff union (PCCFFAP), Portland State University (PSUAAUP). Environmental organizations Sierra Club and Sunrise Movement have also endorsed, as have racial justice advocacy organizations APANO Action Fund and Latino Network. Five other city councilors endorsed: Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Sameer Kanal. Six state officials, and former Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt also endorsed.
Josh Leake
Professional background: Josh Leake is a mortgage loan officer and film producer. He also started Future Filmmakers with the Boys & Girls Club, founded the Portland Film Festival, and produced a documentary that sold to Showtime. He added that he “kept programming trans and Muslim directors when the hate mail and zoom bombing arrived and the sponsors walked. Zero regrets.”
Political experience and civic engagement: Leake, 51, has no elected political experience. He ran for mayor of Portland in 2024, the city’s first ranked-choice election. He has volunteered for former Mayors Vera Katz and Sam Adams, and worked on the city’s first website. He boasts a lot of volunteer work on his campaign website, including as a former PPB Explorer—embedded with the 911 call center, patrol, traffic, homicide, and investigator. He also volunteered at the Oregon Food Bank and the Humane Society.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Leake says money coming into Oregon is changing, noting Portland and Multnomah County have spent nearly $1 billion on homeless services. “The one-time money is gone, federal Medicaid cuts land next year, and we need system-level fixes, not just another workgroup,” he says. Leake outlines a handful of priorities, like expanding Portland Street Response to 24/7 service, asking 10,000 frontline city workers where waste occurs and tracking it, and using the Portland Clean Energy Fund to offer fare-free TriMet for Portlanders. He wants to turn the ICE facility into a “medically driven” sobering center—”I’ve already asked DHS for the keys”—and bring artists and musicians into City Hall to start every Council meeting.
Leake says his top priority is to “end the drug emergency,” something he’s asked the federal government to help with through letter campaigns. He added that District 4 is disproportionately impacted by car break-ins, and he wants to stop it with a bait car program, lighting audits, and using hot-spot data.
John McDonald
Professional background: McDonald is currently a service worker for TriMet, and has also worked as a journalist. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science.
Political experience: McDonald was elected a Democratic precinct committeeman in Broward County, Florida in 2016.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: McDonald did not respond to the Mercury’s questionnaire, but he has posted a few of his ideas on his campaign’s Facebook page, writing “Best know we gonna fix these pot holes,” and proposing that fare gates be added to protect public transit riders as part of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project.
Matt Schulte
Professional background: Schulte, 65, is a musician, philosopher, filmmaker, and digital strategist. He founded a company called Lower Boom, which partners with filmmakers and organizations for video production and promotion.
Political experience: None.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: Schulte says Portland is “long on process and consensus, short on vision and conviction.”
On Schulte’s campaign website, he writes, “Our solutions should reconnect Portland’s stranded physical, electrical and human capacity.” To do so, he has two proposals: to repurpose the existing electrical connections in empty buildings in downtown Portland as regional electricity infrastructure, and to create a social services initiative where volunteers and professionals would connect people in need to existing social services. He wants Portland to be ambitious, and competent. “As the Government Transition Advisory Committee recommended and council did not follow through on, I would require a citywide strategic plan before the next budget,” Schulte said in the Mercury’s candidate questionnaire. “We should implement the 911 Call Allocation Working Group’s recommendations within one year and institute 24/7 Street Response coverage. We should NOT concede any more leverage to Dundon and the Blazers, and our negotiation stance to him should be ‘it’s your turn to compromise.’”
Jeremy Beausoleil Smith
Professional background: Beausoleil Smith, 29, has a professional background in construction management. Most recently, he’s worked as a capital projects and construction manager at Portland State University. He has a degree in sustainable building construction from Virginia Tech, with academic background in net-zero buildings, renewable energy, and sustainability, working on student resource centers, the new PSU Art and Design building, and a Metro project in Washington DC. He has also studied Arabic and Middle Eastern Affairs.
Political experience: Beausoleil Smith is a committee person for the Multnomah County Democratic Party, and serves on the budget committee for the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District. He has community organizing experience on the local, state and national levels—including work to defend Forest Park from a PGE project to remove five acres of trees, and on the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. He previously ran for City Council in 2024 but withdrew from the race before the election.
Why he’s running and what he’d like to accomplish: “I believe Portland’s best days are ahead of us,” Beausoleil Smith says. He said he believes the city is too expensive and too many basic systems are failing people. That includes housing, affordability, addiction, mental health, and climate crises, at the same time a hostile federal government is making life even more difficult. “Life doesn’t have to be this hard,” he added. Beausoleil Smith said he is a progressive, but he doesn’t want to spend time arguing about ideology when people need help. He said urgency should be a priority, particularly around housing and homelessness, climate and environmental disasters—including the CEI Hub, and green algae blooms in District 4. “I will work for stronger renter protections and more social housing, protection of Forest Park and our natural resources, a stronger Portland Street Response, and a city government prepared and willing to stand up to federal attacks,” Beausoleil Smith said.
Notable endorsements and donations: Beausoleil Smith has unlocked more than $84,000 from the city’s Small Donor Elections program. He is endorsed by the Latino Network Action Fund, Sunrise Movement PDX, PSU-AAUP—Portland State University’s faculty and admin staff union—and the Pacific Green Party.
Eric Zimmerman
Professional background: Zimmerman, 42, is a lifelong Portlander. As an openly gay man, he has been outspoken about equal rights for military service members. Prior to a life of politics, he joined the US Army in college and was a platoon leader in the Iraq war, served a NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, and a diplomatic assignment at the US embassy in Bangladesh. He has also served in the Oregon National Guard for 17 years.
Political experience: Zimmerman has worked as a staffer for multiple local elected officials, including Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards and former Commissioner Diane McKeel. He was also a downtown policy advisor for former Mayor Ted Wheeler. Zimmerman, an incumbent, won election in District 4 in 2024, becoming one of three Portlanders to serve in the first term of the city’s new form of government.
Time in office: As councilor, Zimmerman has been considered part of the Council’s moderate bloc, largely using the position to block policies brought by progressive councilors. He credits his work to help the Council pass policy to protect city employees from federal prosecution by ICE, and is working to pass legislation that would ban algorithmic pricing at grocery stores. On his campaign website, Zimmerman lists homelessness as a top priority, saying “(e)nding unsanctioned camping as quickly as possible is a must for Portland. But to do that, we need to implement a ‘Shelter Now’ policy.” That means enforcing the city’s homelessness restrictions, and investing in temporary solutions to homelessness like pod shelter sites, while “[working] with Multnomah County to create permanent supportive housing for those struggling to rent or obtain a home.” He also wants to maintain the city’s parks, and designate district teams for the city’s main streets by expanding the Portland Environment Management Office and Enhanced Services Districts, like the Portland Business Alliance’s Downtown Clean & Safe contract. Zimmerman wants to increase housing production, expand the Portland Police Bureau to 1,000 sworn officers, and wants to empower police to be more aggressive in enforcing public drug use laws.
Notable endorsements and donations: Zimmerman has racked up a number of endorsements from political leaders. That includes former Governor John Kitzhaber, Senators Rob Wagner and Kate Lieber, eight state representatives, his former boss Julia Brim-Edwards, and current Council colleague Loretta Smith. Organizations have backed him too, notably the Portland Police Association—the Portland Police Bureau’s sworn officer union—and its closely allied unions, like the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFSCME Local 189, Portland Firefighters Local 43 and others. He is also endorsed by the Portland Metro Chamber’s political action committee, United for Portland. The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors, and others have also endorsed Zimmerman. As of September 10, he’s received over $118,700 in campaign contributions, including $88,100 from the city’s Small Donor Elections program. Other notable donors include his fellow Councilor Dan Ryan, as well as Portland Metro Chamber executive Jon Isaacs, Le Pigeon and Canard co-owner Andrew Fortgang, as well as Northwest Oregon Labor Council President Laurie Wimmer, among others.