Metro Candidate Duke Shepard Bows Out of November Run-Off

Duke Shepard, who placed second in the May 18 primary to Gresham City Councilor Shirley Craddick in the race for a vacant Metro District 1 seat (East Multnomah County) announced this morning that he will concede the race to Craddick.

Bowing out of a race early is unusual move. But Shepard, a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO whom WW endorsed in May, said he could not see a way to make up the distance between him and Craddick by the Nov. 2 general election (Craddick got about 46 percent of the primary vote; Shepard got about 22 percent, while Jeff Reynolds and Chris Gorsek took the balance).

Here's an excerpt from Shepard's statement:

I came in second by a pretty big margin. Since then, I have examined the May 18 election data in great detail, and while I appreciate the opportunity to be in the runoff, I do not see a realistic or acceptable path to victory.

Past history in similar local elections suggests to me that being competitive in November would require a massive amount of money and a toxic negative campaign. Setting aside the unrealistic amount of money required (though that's a huge challenge), I have no interest in running a desperate and personally negative campaign against a good person on issues that are not at the core of why I ran. So while there may indeed be a long-shot path to victory in theory, there isn't one that works for me in reality. This campaign started with integrity, and that is how it will end.