Who Is Running for Portland City Council So Far?

Next year in Portland, voters will elect new leaders to be the first to serve under the city’s new form of government.

There will be 12 new city council members, three from each of four geographic districts.

Here’s the latest list of candidates who are already in the race, more than a year before the election, which the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week have been tracking closely.

District 1 (East Portland)

Steph Routh is a member of the Portland Planning Commission as well as a former Bureau of Transportation staffer. She has worked on civic issues, particularly advocating on transportation.

Timur Ender was a transportation policy advisor to former Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick and a former PBOT project manager.

David Linn is on the Centennial School Board. Linn was chair of the Centennial neighborhood association and was previously on the Montavilla neighborhood association.

Former policy adviser to the late City Commissioner Nick Fish, Jamie Dunphy currently works as the government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in Oregon. He is also on the board of the nonprofit MusicPortland.

Deian Salazar serves on the Oregon Commission on Autism (he himself has autism) and is a district leader and precinct committee person for the Multnomah County Democrats. He previously ran for — but did not win — a seat on the David Douglas School Board.

Candace Avalos is the executive director of the social justice nonprofit Verde. She's one of three candidates that served on the Charter Commission, which shaped the new form of government. She also served on the Citizen Review Committee, charged with police oversight. And she wrote a monthly column for the Oregonian for two years that ended as this campaign began. She ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2020.

District 2 (North and Northeast)

Brooklyn Sherman previously ran for a seat on the Portland Public School board and worked for Teressa Raiford's 2020 write-in campaign for mayor.

David Burnell, a certified substance abuse counselor, is co-chair of the Government Transition Advisory Committee, which is overseeing the transition to the new form of government. Previously, he co-chaired the Oregon 988 Suicide Hotline initiative.

Joseph Emerson has worked in software development at Nike as well as nonprofits. He was on the Concordia Neighborhood Association board and is currently a volunteer with the nonprofit Portland Forward.

Debbie Kitchin is one of the three candidates who served on the charter commission, which developed this new form of government. With her husband, she owns a home and commercial remodeling business that focuses on sustainability. She is on the board for the Greater Portland Economic Development District. She has previously served on the Portland Business Alliance board (now called the Portland Metro Chamber).

District 3 (Southeast)

Chris Flanary is a Portland Housing Bureau employee and union organizer.

Sandeep Bali is a pharmacist who has run for City Council before.

Jesse Cornett once worked for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and more recently for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)’s 2020 presidential campaign. Cornett is a board member of Oregon Recovers. He has run for council before.

Angelita Morillo is a member of the Rental Services Commission, which advises city officials on housing policy, and works for the nonprofit Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. She previously worked for City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. She also has a sizable TikTok following.

Robin Ye is currently chief of staff to Rep. Khanh Pham (D-East Portland). He was on the charter commission, which drafted the ballot measure to change the form of government. He has also previously worked for the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon.

Daniel DeMelo chairs the Multnomah County Central and Homeless Services Community Budget Advisory Committees.

District 4 (West Side)

Tony Morse is a policy and advocacy director at the nonprofit Oregon Recovers. He previously was a field organizer for the Democratic Party of Oregon.

Sarah Silkie is a Portland Water Bureau engineer and a member of the union Professional & Technical Employees Local 17. She’s attending the Oregon Labor Candidate School.

Not Running

It’s still an open question whether some high-profile current and former elected officials will join the race. Willamette Week reports that one has officially ruled out an attempt to return to City Hall: former city commissioner Chloe Eudaly. (There’s no word yet on current City Commissioners Rene Gonzalez, Carmen Rubio, and Dan Ryan; Mingus Mapps is running for mayor.)