A week after the midterm elections, most of the races have been called, and we’ve seen historic Democratic wins in both the House and the Senate. However, there’s more to the election results than posting Instagram create mode stories about whether we should put pronouns in our bio now. In addition to the nationwide trends in the midterms, Oregonians voted for their governor, senator, representatives, and more. Portland residents also voted for their city council representatives.
On the state scale, Democratic incumbent Tina Kotek was voted governor of Oregon. Democratic incumbent Jeff Merkley was voted senator. Five of the six elected congressional representatives were also Democratic incumbents. Most relevant for Reed, Maxine Dexter was elected as House District 3 representative.
In the Portland city council race, District 3 and District 4 each had three council positions open. Reed lies in District 4, which also includes all of the neighborhoods west of the Willamette River, alongside some of Sellwood and West/Eastmoreland. If you happen to live a few blocks north or east of Reed, you’re in District 3, an area which extends mostly between NE Sandy Blvd and SE 82nd Ave.
This was the second year that the Portland City Council election used ranked choice voting, which is the same system that Reed elections use (when there is more than one candidate for a position, at least). In ranked choice voting, voters are able to vote for up to six candidates, selecting their choice for first, second, third, and so on. These votes are tabulated in multiple rounds, starting with the first choice results, and eliminating the candidate with the least votes in each round. After the lowest-ranked candidate is removed, the votes that would have gone to them get redistributed to the next highest choice candidates of the people who voted for them. This process continues until three candidates gain 25% of the votes each, or there are only three candidates left.
As of November 11, the election results from Multnomah County Elections have not yet been certified, but at this point, they show clearly that District 4 voted to reelect the three incumbent councilors: Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman. All of these candidates had previously won in the 2024 city council election, which was the first to use the ranked-choice voting system, as well as the first election of Portland’s city government under the council system, rather than a city commission. In the first round of voting in the 2026 election, Mitch Green and Olivia Clark led from the beginning with 19,705 votes (26.64%) and 20,851 votes (28.19%) respectively. Eric Zimmerman initially received 13,616 votes (18.41%), but eventually passed the 25% threshold in round 12 of tabulation to beat the next contender, Eli Arnold.
To give some more information on the councilors, Olivia Clark is the current Council Vice President and she ran for reelection on a platform of fixing everyday issues and dealing with homeless people in the city. Before joining City Council, Clark worked for TriMet. Mitch Green is a Democratic Socialist and economist who was the subject of some controversy recently due to several of his old Tweets criticizing Portland police resurfacing, in addition to the Oregonian reporting that he failed to pay a property tax bill. Green campaigned in this election with a focus on affordability and transparency in government. Eric Zimmerman is a former National Guard member and Multnomah County public servant who campaigned about public safety and affordability.
District 3 also reelected three incumbent councilors: Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Steve Novick. This election required much less tabulation compared to District 4, as there were only two rounds of tabulation. After the first round, all of the incumbent candidates had met the required 25% of the vote, or 20,832 votes. Tiffany Koyama Lane is a Democratic Socialist, a former teacher, and the first Asian American woman on the Portland City Council. Angelita Morillo is also a Democratic Socialist who runs the political TikTok account @pnwpolicyangel. Steve Novick is an attorney and was previously Portland City Commissioner.
For Portland residents who want to contact their representatives in City Council, their information is available on portland.gov. City Council meetings are held every week and the agendas are available at portland.gov/council/agenda. As a parting note, Oregon’s total voter turnout was 63.50%. Compare this statistic to the 33.5% of Reed students who voted in the most recent Reed election, and consider voting in the next Senate and Quest election at the end of this semester.
