Voters Showed Their Dissatisfaction With Incumbents After a Summer of Unrest in Portland

That dismay was sharp enough to oust Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, but Mayor Ted Wheeler barely held onto his job.

Watching a protest from a Portland porch. (Wesley Lapointe)
By Tess Riski

In Portland, Nov. 3 was a change election. It just didn't always result in change.

The outsiders challenging incumbents at Portland City Hall made significant gains between the May and November elections. Voter dissatisfaction was sharp enough to oust Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, but Mayor Ted Wheeler barely held onto his job.

An analysis of the raw totals of votes show a wave of support for the two candidates—Mingus Mapps and Sarah Iannarone—who had never before held elected office. Their numbers appear to be driven by a summer of protests and civil unrest, which resulted in a swell of anti-incumbent sentiment.

Here's what a comparison of the primary and general elections reveals:

Mayor Ted Wheeler is taking heat from all sides, including the women seeking to unseat him. (Zane Fleming)

Portland Mayor

Mayor Ted Wheeler failed to secure reelection during the May primary by less than 1 percentage point. That resulted in a November runoff, where he beat his opponent Sarah Iannarone by over 19,000 votes, as of press deadlines on Oct. 10. But Iannarone narrowed the gap between herself and Wheeler significantly, by nearly tripling her vote total between races.

• Incumbent Mayor Ted Wheeler received 109,159 votes in the primaries and 165,443 in the general election. That's a gain of 56,284 votes.

• Challenger Sarah Iannarone received 53,306 votes in the primaries and 146,299 in the general election. That's a gain of 92,993 votes—36,709 more new votes than Wheeler gained.

(Mick Hangland-Skill)

Portland City Council, Position 4

Challenger Mingus Mapps trailed Commissioner Chloe Eudaly by less than 3 percentage points in the primaries. But in the November runoff, Mapps more than tripled his vote count; Eudaly did not. That resulted in a Mapps win by more than 12 percentage points last week.

• Commissioner Chloe Eudaly received 66,757 votes in the primaries and 144,687 in the general election. That's a gain of 77,930 votes.

• Challenger Mingus Mapps received 61,049 votes in the primaries and 185,598 in the general election. That's a gain of 124,549—46,619 more new votes than Eudaly gained.

Source: Oregon Secretary of State

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