City Council Candidate Jo Ann Hardesty Wins Support of Two Legislators Who Backed a Rival in Primary

Democratic state representatives Diego Hernandez and Rob Nosse had previously endorsed Andrea Valderrama.

Jo Ann Hardesty (Walker Stockly)

City Council candidate Jo Ann Hardesty's campaign on Wednesday announced endorsements from two legislators who'd previously backed a rival in the primary election.

Rep. Diego Hernandez (D-East Portland) and Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Southeast Portland) both had endorsed mayoral aide Andrea Valderrama in the primary.

It's somewhat expected that a number of Valderrama's backers would endorse Hardesty, a former legislator and former head of the NAACP of Portland.

In deep blue Portland, Hardesty is in many respects the more left-wing candidate to her rival, County Commissioner Loretta Smith, in the nonpartisan November election. Both women are Democrats.

And both Hernandez and Nosse represent the liberal wing of liberal Portland. Hardesty was widely expected to get Hernandez's endorsement in the primary before Valderrama, a close friend of his, entered the race.

"Portland needs a progressive voice like Jo Ann's that will advocate for underrepresented communities and deliver results," said Hernandez, in a statement. "During these troubling times we need fearless leadership who will resist and stand for immigrant and civil rights, while working to undo our historical inequities."

"Jo Ann has been working on issues that are important in our city for a long time," said said Nosse, in a statement, "and I think she's what we need right now—someone who brings both the expertise from being a government 'insider' and the compassion for people from being an 'outsider.'"

Related: Portland's Largest Public Employee Union Endorses City Council Candidate JoAnn Hardesty

Also endorsing Hardesty, according to the announcement today: former Governor Barbara Roberts, Metro Council President-elect Lynn Peterson, former Portland City Commissioner Mike Lindberg, former Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz.

Hardesty's campaign also announced that she'd previously received endorsements from including Rep. Carla Piluso (D-Gresham), Rep. Tawna Sanchez (D-North Portland), former County Chair Bev Stein, former state Sen. Richard Devlin, former state Sen. Jane Cease, and City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, only the last of which received significant attention in the primary.

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