Two Multnomah County Commissioner Seats Will Go to Runoff in November

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners will likely have two runoff elections in November as two other races appear settled, one comfortably and the other by a whisker.

In what could be the most contentious, former Portland Mayor Sam Adams will face social worker Shannon Singleton in District 2 (North and Northeast Portland). Adams has been intensely critical of the Joint Office of Homeless Services, a much-maligned agency that Singleton ran for a short time.

“This race offers voters a real choice,” Adams said in an interview.

It was a nail-biter for Adams. Singleton took 46.5% of the vote in the nonpartisan contest, short of the majority she needed, while Adams eked out second place against hotelier Jessie Burke, 23.6% to 22.2%. Adams and Burke appealed to many of the same pro-business voters. Two other candidates got a total of 7%.

“Change agendas got a majority of votes,” Adams said. He aims to win all of those in the runoff.

Singleton didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on her primary win.

Elsewhere, disability rights advocate Meghan Moyer will face administrative law judge Vadim Mozyrsky in District 1 (westside). Moyer was up 47% to 40% as of Friday evening.

In Southeast Portland’s District 3, incumbent Julia Brim-Edwards, a former Nike executive, trounced challenger TJ Noddings, a homeless-outreach worker, 73% to 26%.

Farther east, in District 4, it appeared Gresham City Councilor Vince Jones-Dixon had avoided a runoff against a political novice by getting a bare majority: 50.1%. Brian Knotts, a consultant from Corbett who raised little money and had no endorsements, got 41.5%.

As of Friday, Multnomah County had collected 207,060 ballots, for a turnout of 36.21%.