2024 Portland, Oregon City Council election


The 2024 Portland City Council elections were held on November 5, 2024. It was the first election under Portland's new form of government, the first election to elect a city council instead of a city commission, the first without a primary, the first where every seat was up for election, and the first under a proportional ranked-choice voting system as opposed to a first-past-the-post voting system with a primary. It was held concurrently with the 2024 Portland, Oregon mayoral election.
Prior to January 2025, Portland used a city commission government with a five-member board, including the mayor. Under the new form of government, approved by voters in 2022 and which came into effect in January 2025, the mayor is no longer a part of the city council, and instead of five at-large positions, the council has twelve districted seats. Portland is divided into four districts, each electing three councilmembers. The district elections use a single transferable vote election system. Special elections will no longer be used to fill vacancies in the council. The elections continue to be officially nonpartisan.
In the previous election, Dan Ryan and Rene Gonzalez were elected to the council, marking that voters had shifted away from progressivism towards policies advocated by moderate Democrats. In the 2024 mayoral race, Ted Wheeler chose not to run for re-election. Outgoing commission members Mingus Mapps, Rene Gonzalez, and Carmen Rubio ran for mayor, while Dan Ryan ran for a City Council seat in District 2.
In the mayoral race, Mapps, Gonzalez and Rubio, alongside 15 other candidates, were all defeated by businessman Keith Wilson, while Ryan became the lone member of the previous City Commission to be elected to the new City Council in District 2. Joining him were Candace Avalos, Loretta Smith, and Jamie Dunphy from District 1, Sameer Kanal and Elana Pirtle-Guiney in District 2, Steve Novick, Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama Lane in District 3, and Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman in District 4.
Clark and Novick's victories were called by The Oregonian on election night, but 8 of the remaining 10 seats were not called until Saturday, November 9, while Dunphy and Zimmerman's seats were not decided until Thursday, November 21 — more than 2 weeks after Election Day.

District 1

District 1 represents the eastern part of the city, primarily everything east of Interstate 205 all the way to the city's eastern border with Gresham, as well as Portland International Airport. Neighborhoods represented include Argay, Centennial, Glenfair, Hazelwood, Lents, Mill Park, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Pleasant Valley, Powellhurst-Gilbert, Russell, Sumner, Wilkes, and Woodland Park.

Candidates

Declared

Withdrawn

Campaign Suspended

District 2

District 2 represents most of North and Northeast Portland north of Interstate 84 and west of 82nd Avenue. Neighborhoods represented include Alameda, Arbor Lodge, Beaumont-Wilshire, Boise, Bridgeton, Cathedral Park, Concordia, Cully, Dignity Village, East Columbia, Eliot, Grant Park, Hayden Island, Hollywood, Humboldt, Irvington, Kenton, King, Lloyd District, Madison South, Overlook, Piedmont, Portsmouth, Sabin, St. Johns, Sullivan's Gulch, Sumner, Sunderland, University Park, Vernon, and Woodlawn.

Candidates

Declared

Withdrawn

Declined

District 3

District 3 represents most of Southeast Portland south of Interstate 84 and west of Interstate 205, as well as a small sliver of Northeast Portland east of 47th Avenue and south of Prescott Avenue. Neighborhoods represented include Brentwood-Darlington, Brooklyn, Buckman, Creston-Kenilworth, Foster-Powell, Hosford-Abernethy, Kerns, Laurelhurst, Madison South, Montavilla, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Mt. Tabor, North Tabor, Richmond, Rose City Park, Roseway, South Tabor, Sunnyside, and Woodstock.

Candidates

Declared

Campaign Suspended

  • Jaclyn Smith-Moore, web developer

Potential

  • Rachel Clark, small business manager and daughter of former mayor Bud Clark

Withdrawn

  • Mu-Yin Chen, musician and motivational speaker
  • Robin Ye, chief of staff to state representative Khanh Pham and former Portland Charter Commissioner

Failed to qualify

  • Tony Morse, substance abuse nonprofit executive ''''

District 4

District 4 represents all of Portland west of the Willamette River as well as the Eastmoreland, Reed, and Sellwood-Moreland neighborhoods in southeast Portland. Neighborhoods represented include Arlington Heights, Arnold Creek, Ashcreek, Bridlemile, Collins View, Crestwood, Downtown, Eastmoreland, Far Southwest, Forest Park, Goose Hollow, Hayhurst, Hillsdale, Hillside, Homestead, Linnton, Maplewood, Markham, Marshall Park, Multnomah, Northwest District, Northwest Heights, Northwest Industrial, Old Town Chinatown, Pearl District, Reed, Sellwood-Moreland, South Burlingame, South Portland, Southwest Hills, Sylvan-Highlands, and West Portland Park.
This district's election was notable for having the only change in the winner due to transfers performed under the single transferable vote system.
Eli Arnold captured the third-most first preferences in the first round of tabulation, leading Eric Zimmerman by just over 100 votes. However, Zimmerman received enough transfers to surpass Arnold's final vote total by just under 800 votes in further rounds of tabulation, and beat him out to the district's third seat.

Candidates

Declared

Withdrawn

  • Chomba Kaluba
  • Jeremy Beausoleil Smith

Declined