Metro Council President Lynn Peterson Holds Commanding Lead Over Challenger Alisa Pyszka

The regional government’s increasing responsibilities and prominence make its top job desirable.

COMRADES: Lynn Peterson (right) drops by the victory party of Tina Kotek (center) on May 17. (Blake Benard)

Metro Council President Lynn Peterson appeared headed for a comfortable victory tonight over challenger Alisa Pyszka.

At 9:05 pm, Peterson held a lead of more than 20 percentage points. The picture is less clear than in many races, however, because Clackamas County hasn’t reported any results yet due to bar code failures on its ballots (the ballots will be duplicated by hand and then counted).

Peterson bore the brunt of critics’ frustration with garbage and homeless camps on the streets, but she has guided the tri-county government through a remarkable expansion.

Metro issued its first housing bond ($653 million) in 2018, the year Peterson won office. The following year, voters approved a $475 million parks and greenspaces bond for the agency and, in 2020, a $2.5 billion, 10-year supportive housing services measure to address the region’s homeless crisis.

Peterson also pushed a $4 billion transportation measure in 2020, alienating many in the business community and disappointing supporters who saw the measure fail.

That ballot measure also created an opening for the candidacy of Peterson’s challenger, Pyszka, an urban planner and former vice president of the business development agency Greater Portland. Pyszka hoped to capitalize on anti-incumbent sentiment and many voters’ lingering skepticism of Metro.

But the deep-pocketed critics in the business community, such as Nike, which helped sink the 2020 transportation measure, stayed on the sidelines—and that means Peterson will probably keep her job.

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