Multnomah County Certifies Dan Ryan’s Victory in Portland City Council Special Election

Elections officials found no merit to Loretta Smith’s concerns regarding the integrity of the election.

Commissioner Dan Ryan
By Nigel Jaquiss

As recently as Aug. 26, former Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith continued to raise questions about her narrow loss to Dan Ryan in the Aug. 11 special election runoff to fill a vacant Portland City Council seat.

But Multnomah County elections officials found no merit to her concerns and certified the election result Aug. 31.

Ryan defeated Smith 51% to 48%, a margin of 5,291 votes. For a closer look at the precincts that provided him that margin of victory, check out this study.

Ryan announced this week he has hired Kellie Torres, development manager at Portland Parks & Recreation, to be his chief of staff. Ryan takes office Sept. 10, replacing late Commissioner Nick Fish, who died in January of abdominal cancer.

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