By State Representative Rob Nosse
I greatly appreciate that The Southeast Examiner is a newspaper where I learn about the goings on in our sliver of Portland and that it also allows me to share my thoughts on the happenings of our state and our community. This column is not a forum for me to make endorsements for various offices, but the biggest thing that happened in Portland last month was the election that occurred on May 21. So, in a rare break from my usual format, I am going to share my reaction to some of last month’s election results.
Starting with the statewide elections, Tobias Read, Elizabeth Steiner and Dan Rayfield all won their Democratic primaries for Secretary of State, State Treasurer and Attorney General, respectively. These were the candidates I supported, and they all have a solid chance of winning in the general election.
Here in Portland, it looks like we will send Shannon Isadore Jones and Willy Chotzen to join me in the state legislature. I am looking forward to serving with both of them. Jones takes Maxine Dexter’s place, while Chotzen is replacing Khanh Pham.
Thankfully, all of the measures to renew existing taxes supporting street repair, teachers and the zoo passed. I am really glad about that. Our schools and roads would be in worse shape without those measures.
Over in Oregon’s fifth congressional district, currently represented by Republican Lori Chavez DeRemer, a fierce competition took place between the two Democrats, Jamie McLeod Skinner and Janelle Bynum. Bynum was the more moderate of the two (although she is still a committed Democrat). Bynum prevailed and will face the incumbent in November. I endorsed Bynum, a legislative colleague who has done a solid job, and who I also believe has a better chance of winning. This race is considered a true toss-up and represents one of Democrats’ best chances locally to take back control of the US House of Representatives at a national level.
Here in Portland, Maxine Dexter beat Susheela Jayapal and Eddy Morales (and a few others) in the race to replace retiring Congressman Earl Blumenauer. It wasn’t even close. In the end, Dexter benefited from a late surge of campaign contributions both to her campaign outright and in independent expenditures. Meanwhile, Jayapal, a former county commissioner, struggled to paint her time leading Multnomah County in a positive light. The money spent by the entities supporting Dexter pointed out the struggles of Multnomah County a lot as well.
Some of you might remember that I supported Morales. Dexter has been a good colleague in the state legislature. I have no doubt that she will do a good job in Congress. Still, I cannot help but wonder about all the money that was garnered from all around the country. What would the results have been without all that spending?
Last but not least, I was disappointed to see District Attorney Mike Schmidt lose to his challenger, Nathan Vasquez. Given the mood of the electorate, maybe I was not surprised. (I am running up against my word count, so I won’t talk about the County Commissioner races.) The election was not a landslide for Vasquez, but he did win decisively. He ran a campaign that fired Schmidt from the job. The results are a clear signal that voters are fed up with the crime they see around them and thus they took it out on Multnomah County’s top law enforcement official.
I found Schmidt to be a competent, passionate DA. And while crime rates have started to come down, it hasn’t felt like enough progress to allow him to earn a second term. A lot of the problems we are seeing really have more to do with state and local governments not getting enough housing set up, and not getting a handle on homelessness and public drug usage–though progress at the state level has been made on that front. Schmidt, like me, also supported changes to BM 110. But it was Schmidt who got the blame and thus he lost. (Sigh)
So, what can these election results tell us of what to expect in the November general election? Well, the victory for Vasquez reveals that many Portland voters feel that crime is out of control, and the government has failed to adequately address homelessness. And Dexter’s and Bynum’s, show that money is still the mother’s milk of politics. All of these candidates won the money race in their respective campaigns as well.
Meanwhile the November election looms large, and not just because of the presidential election. We will have a new form of city government with a 12-person City Council that will be focused on policy and the budget, while the mayor, who, with the assistance of a city manager, will be the sole person running the city. This is opposed to our current system where all five members of Council run the various city government bureaus.
Will the same dynamics that were at play in the May primary with regard to the District Attorney shape what the November election will be about with regard to our City Council and who is elected mayor? By dynamics, I mean frustrations with crime, drug use, housing and homelessness. And will money spent by interests who are not coordinating with the various campaigns send all kinds of mail to our homes? Stay tuned.
