Candidates Are Piling into the Race to Succeed the Late Commissioner Nick Fish

Margot Black, Sam Chase, Julia DeGraw and Dan Ryan have all filed paperwork or made formal announcements.

Sam Chase

The long line of candidates hoping to succeed the late Commissioner Nick Fish is forming.

Several candidates have either formed political action committees or made formal announcements that they are in the race. They include Julia DeGraw, who ran against Fish in 2018; Margot Black, a co-founder of Portland Tenants United; Dan Ryan, a former member of the Portland Public Schools Board and executive director of the educational non-profit All Hands Raised; and Metro Councillor Sam Chase.

Chase, who has deep roots in the affordable housing and low-income healthcare fields, served of chief of staff for Fish from 2008 to 2010, when Chase was elected to the first of his two terms on the Metro Council.

Another potential candidate with strong ties to Fish, former two-term Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, tells WW she is still pondering whether she'll enter the race.

Updated: The Oregonian reported late Thursday afternoon that Smith has also entered the race.

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