Oregon Elections: Portland Races Head to Runoffs

As ballots continue to be counted, it appears that most of the city races in Portland are headed for runoff elections. Carmen Rubio was the only city council candidate to achieve an outright win, beating out closest competitor Candace Avalos for Position 1. The race to serve the two remaining two years of Nick Fish's term is extremely close, with the top 5 candidates each receiving between 12% and 19% of the vote. Front-runner Loretta Smith (19.1%) will face Dan Ryan (13.8%) in a run off in November. The race for Position 4 is another toss-up - incumbent Chloe Eudaly received 31.2% of the vote, while Mingus Mapps received 29% and Sam Adams received 28.2%. More votes will need to be counted to determine who will face Eudaly in the run off. As of Wednesday morning, it appears Ted Wheeler may be able to avoid a run off election, but it is still too close to call. The Mayor has a narrow majority of 50.4% of the votes, while Sarah Iannarone received 23.3%. Portland voters approved the gas tax, and voters across the Metro area voted in favor of the homeless services measure. Read more.