The 2024 mayor’s race is shaping up to be a showdown between three current City Commissioners: Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, and Carmen Rubio.
The other members of council won’t be running: Mayor Ted Wheeler announced in September that he wouldn’t seek a third term, and City Commissioner Dan Ryan is seeking to join the new City Council, representing District 2.
In a notable development last week, fund-raising numbers show Rene Gonzalez ahead of Mingus Mapps, who announced his run five months ahead of Gonzalez, and arguably has a similar constituency:
Rene Gonzalez
Announced: Dec. 2023
Money raised (with matching funds): $156,000
First elected to council: November 2022 (defeating Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty)
In a city where compromise is sometimes practiced to a fault, Gonzalez is very clear about where he stands, for better or worse. He has championed the interests of the business community — for example, in a failed attempt to overturn key elements of Portland’s voter-approved change in the form of government.
Mingus Mapps
Announced: July 2023
Money raised (with matching funds): $78,000
First elected to council: Nov. 2020 (defeating Commissioner Chloe Eudaly)
Mapps’ tenure has been defined by this high-profile leadership of the transportation bureau. He led the council to refer a gas tax renewal to the May ballot after budget decisions left the bureau in dire straits. In fact, he was the lone vote against the city’s 2023-24 budget, which reduced a planned parking fee hike (in an attempt to help downtown that added to the Portland Bureau of Transportations budget woes). In a notable stumble, an effort by PBOT to appease downtown interests badly backfired: the Broadway bike lane was not ultimately removed.
Carmen Rubio
Announced: January 2024
Money raised (with matching funds): $19,000
First elected to council: Nov. 2020 (filling an open seat, previously held by Commissioner Amanda Fritz)
Rubio has kept relatively low-profile during her time in office, but starting last fall she has been championing efforts to make development in the city easier. She successfully pushed a plan to consolidate permitting under one bureau, and just last week moved a package of reforms through City Council to make building homes easier.
The three city commissioners aren’t the only ones running for office: a fourth candidate, Durell Kinsey Bey, who works as a program coordinator for the David Douglas School District, is also in the running.
