PORTLAND, Ore. — Voters in Portland, Oregon, have elected political outsider Keith Wilson as their new mayor. after a campaign in which he capitalized on years of growing frustration over homeless encampments, open drug use and quality-of-life concerns to outperform three city council members — including one enmeshed in a driving record scandal — who had also tried to lead the city.
Wilson, the CEO of a transportation company and founder of a nonprofit dedicated to increasing homeless shelter capacity, has made an ambitious pledge to end unsheltered homelessness within a year of taking office. The Portland resident says he will accomplish this in part by increasing the number of overnight emergency shelters at existing facilities such as churches and community centers.
His message appears to have resonated in a city where surveys in recent years have shown residents consider homelessness a top problem.
“It’s time to end unsheltered homelessness and open drug use, and it’s time to restore public safety in Portland,” he said in his acceptance speech Thursday, speaking at a north Portland community center which has also served as an emergency shelter during extreme circumstances. cold and heat waves. “Voters aren’t interested in pointing fingers. They just want us to get things done.”
The mayoral race, which included 19 candidates, was opened up when Mayor Ted Wheeler decided not to seek re-election after holding the city’s top post since 2017. Wheeler rose to national prominence in 2020 when nightly protests broke out on the streets of Portland and across the country in response to the the police killing of George Floyd.
Wilson won in an election in which Portland voters used ranked choice for the first time. Below ranked choice votingvoters rank their choices in order of preference on the ballot paper. If a candidate is the first choice of more than 50% of voters in the first round of counting, that candidate wins.
Otherwise, the count continues to a second round. The candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who selected that candidate as their top choice have their votes redistributed to their next choice. The process continues with the candidate with the fewest votes being eliminated until someone emerges with a majority of votes.
About 35% of voters named Wilson their top choice, according to the first and second rounds of preliminary results released Tuesday and Wednesday. That is compared to City Council members Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez, who were ranked first by about 19% of voters, and Mingus Mapps, who was ranked first by about 13% of voters.
Rubio and Gonzalez said they called Wilson to congratulate him on his new role.
For much of the year, the two city council members were seen as frontrunners. But recent revelations about Rubio’s driving record — and that of Gonzalez, to a much lesser extent — have shaken the race.
Rubio has received about 150 parking and traffic violations over the past two decades. She was unable to pay many of them for months or even years and her driver’s license was suspended six times. She lost some endorsements after the news, which was first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Gonzalez also had his driver’s license suspended twice more than two decades ago and received seven speeding tickets between 1998 and 2013, including one that was revoked, as first reported by Willamette Week.
In previous statements, Rubio apologized for her actions, and Gonzalez said he had become more responsible over the years.
Wilson will provide full supervision new system of government. Portland is expanding its city council from five to 12 members, elected by voters in individual districts instead of citywide, and adding a city manager position.