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Getting to know Portland City Council District 2 candidates

District 2 residents:

Yikes! The first ballots will be mailed in a couple of weeks. If you haven’t yet gotten to know the 22 candidates* running for Portland City Council from District 2 (https://www.portland.gov/elections/city-office-candidacy/2024-city-candidates), you have more opportunities than ever to learn about them online. You can peruse candidate websites, read online interviews and questionnaires, and watch videos. You can also attend upcoming candidate meetups. See below.

BTW: For a list of October 1-21 in-person & online events explaining ranked choice voting, the new voting method we’ll be using, go to https://www.portland.gov/vote/events, and scroll down.

Access Candidate Websites: Visit the candidates’ own websites for details on their backgrounds, positions, and endorsements.

(Omitted from both lists are Rubin Berlin, Antonio Jamal PettyJohnBlue, Sam Sachs, and Liz Taylor.)

 

Attend upcoming candidate meetups:

  • 350pdx Climate Justice Candidate Forum on Tuesday, October 1, 6:30 p.m., Rebuilding Center offices, 3639 N Mississippi Ave. “These forums will center on climate justice issues, and give you the unique opportunity to hear directly from candidates and ask questions about their plans and priorities on climate.”
  • NE Coalition District 2 Candidate Mixer & Open House, Wednesday, October 9, 5:30-7:30 p.m., King Neighborhood Facility, 4815 NE 7th Ave. “Meet the candidates, learn about NECN, and participate in a mock election to educate community members on ranked choice voting. Enjoy food, crafts for kids, raffles / prizes to engage the community in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.”
  • Portland Is Possible—Reimagine Portland, Monday, October 14, 6 p.m., Portland Center Stage at the Armory, General Admission $10. For info, see https://www.portlandpossible.org/showcase.
  • D2 Candidate Speed Dating, Tuesday, October 15, 5-7:30 p.m., The Broadway Grill & Brewery, 1700 NE Broadway. “Get face time with your D2 council candidates.”
  • Walk with Bob Simril, Sunday, October 20, 10:15 a.m., Arbor Lodge Park (to the Parkside Pub in Kenton). Join Ginger Edwards & Terrance Moses on a walk with Bob S. and ask about parks, pools in N Portland, homelessness, Arbor Lodge Shelter, Kenton Firehouse future, how to support local businesses, etc.

Read Candidate Answers to Questionnaires. These news organizations sent identical lists of questions to D2 candidates and published their responses:

Read Willamette Week’s interviews: (All WW D2 interviews are at https://www.wweek.com/citycouncil/#district2.)

Watch KOIN’s interviews:

View Endorsements:

  • Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49: Mariah Hudson, Tiffani Penson, Elena Pirtle-Guiney, Jonathan Tasini, and Nat West.
  • Portland for All: Michelle DePass, Marnie Glickman, Sameer Kanal, Debbie Kitchin, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, and Nat West. (See https://www.portlandforall.org/district2.)
  • The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 189: Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Jonathan Tasini, and Nat West.
  • See also candidates’ websites.

 

Check Out Other Videos & Articles:

  • Impact NW’s Meet the Candidates—District 2: Hour-long online question-and-answer event featuring Michelle DePass Marnie Glickman, Tiffani Penson, Dan Ryan, and Nat West.
  • Mental Health Association of Portland’s Candidate Forum: View the District 2 portion of Saturday’s forum at https://www.youtube.com/live/TTYrlzfoiRc, starting at 1 hour 27 minutes (1:27), to learn these candidates’ views on mental health and substance abuse policy: Jennifer Park, Mike Marshall, Tiffani Penson, Nat West, Debbie Kitchin, Laura Streib, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Chris Olson, Will Mespelt , Dan Ryan, and Sameer Kanal.
  • North Peninsula Review (https://northpeninsulareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Newspaper-web-9-1-24.pdf) Read pp 5-6 for short profiles of Dan Ryan, Tiffani Penson, Michelle DePass, Nat West, Mariah Hudson, Bob Simril, James Armstrong, Jennifer Park, Chris Olson, Laura Streib, Marnie Glickman, Mike Marshall, and Jonathan Tasini. (Hopefully, other candidates will be profiled in October’s edition.)
  • The Portland Mercury published an article several months ago and updated it on July 17 with descriptions/interviews of all the candidates whom the reporter (Taylor Griggs) determined were running in District 2: https://www.portlandmercury.com/city-council-race-2024/2023/11/21/46784692/meet-the-portland-city-council-candidates-district-2.
  • First Portland City Council District 2 Candidates Forum. Held at Leaven Community Center in NE and organized by one of the candidates, Christopher Olson. It was also well attended. You can watch a video of the event here: https://northpeninsulareview.com/feb-4th-district-2-forum-an-unusual-format/.

*District 2 candidates are James Armstrong, Ruben Berlin, Michelle DePass, Marnie Glickman, Mariah Hudson, Sameer Kanal, Debbie Kitchin, Mike Marshall, Will Mespelt, Chris Olson, Jennifer Park, Tiffani Penson, Antonio Jamal PettyJohnBlue, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Dan Ryan, Sam Sachs, Bob Simril, Laura Streib, Jonathan Tasini, Liz Taylor, Nat West, and Nabil Zaghloul.

 

These resources gathered and shared by Taffy Everts; thank you, neighbor!

taffy@cruzio.com