Portland, meet OUR ENDORSEMENTS FOR CITY COUNCIL’S 2026 RACES. LET’S VOTE TOGETHER FOR HOUSING CHAMPIONS.

Our pro-homes and pro-tenant agenda won’t succeed without leaders who share our values and value our methods. After reviewing questionnaire responses, conducting interviews, and through a full candidate assessment, we are pleased to announce our endorsements for Portland’s District 3 and District 4 races.

Every one of these candidates supported our Inner Eastside for All campaign and offered strong and informed positions on housing policy, tenant rights, and other political and policy issues. Like our organization—and like Portlanders—they come from a range of ideologies. We found them united in a common belief that Portland thrives when we welcome all our neighbors.

Below, you will find our endorsed candidates plus other candidates who we did not endorse with a brief mention about their stances and candidacy. To understand how all candidates stand on the issues that we care about, you can read the full candidate questionnaire responses.

OUR ENDORSEMENTS FOR PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL 2026 ELECTIOn

Since taking office, Councilor Angelita Morillo has turned our priorities into law. She championed the resolution to speed up and prioritize implementation of Inner Eastside for All, our top policy priority and shepherded it to a unanimous vote on council. She also led the resolution banning algorithmic rent-price-fixing software, closing off a tool to drive up rents in coordinated ways. And she helped establish the city's first public investment in social housing through the revolving loan fund she helped build. On homelessness, her actions support her statement that she'll "continue to push to reallocate funds from sweeps to interventions that actually support people in transitioning toward permanent housing." Learn more and get involved on her campaign website.

A democratic socialist and longtime public school teacher, Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane has been a reliable vote for housing abundance and tenant protection this term, backing the Inner Eastside Zoning Project, the algorithmic rent-fixing ban, and the city's first social housing investment. She's just as outspoken on homelessness policy, opposing sweeps and camping bans and pushing instead for a stronger Portland Street Response. She's distinguished herself on street safety, emerging as one of council's most energetic champions of Vision Zero and better-funded transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure: "We deserve to live in a walkable, busable, and bikeable city where being unable to afford a car does not limit your access to opportunities." Visit her campaign website to learn more and get involved.

Councilor Mitch Green is a steadfast champion for making Portland an affordable, accessible, livable city for the working class. Green advocated for Inner Eastside for All to the Planning Commission prior to taking office, and followed through once elected by co-sponsoring the Inner Eastside for All resolution. He is a vocal advocate for Social Housing in Portland, passing the Social Housing Resolution in his first 90 days, and says he’ll “keep fighting to move Social Housing from resolution to units on the ground.” He continues to speak out for renters, our houseless neighbors, and communities of color impacted by marginalization in Portland – supporting a Renters’ Bill of Rights, co-authoring Keep Portland Housed, and passing a ‘25-’26 budget note that requires the City Administrator to build an Anti-Displacement Task Force. Green brings his expertise as an economist to his policy priorities, championing robust, evidence-based legislation that will continue to make Portland “walkable, bikeable, and transit-connected by design.” You can learn more and get involved on his campaign website.

A renter, car-free transit rider, and mom of five, Jamey Evenstar is a Portland policy wonk committed to delivering for her working class neighbors. In her questionnaire and interview she proved that her diverse and dynamic ideas are rooted in evidence and experience. She supports Inner Eastside for All and champions innovative, values-aligned legislation “increasing the affordable housing allocations in TIF districts,” “expanding current PCEF programs that already build and preserve affordable housing,” advancing “municipally-owned, mixed-income housing options,” and prioritizing “Pricing Options for Equitable Mobility (POEM) task force recommendations,” to name just a few. Evenstar was also part of the work to transition to our new form of government, and wants to see the Council strengthen the power the new Charter bestows upon them. Her breadth of knowledge and expertise in local government would make her a powerful ally for making “housing abundant, affordable, and attainable.” To learn more and get involved, visit her campaign website.

Councilor Olivia Clark has been a reliable vote to remove barriers to housing abundance. She has supported streamlined permitting, waived system development charges, and the resolution to speed up the Inner Eastside Zoning Project. Her strength is on transportation, and she understands that housing growth and transportation investment have to move together. As chair of the Public Works Committee, she was instrumental in passing the Transportation Utility Fee that gives Portland a sustainable source of transportation funding, which took real political will. Portland needs that transportation funding to build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps us moving as a city, and it will be essential as we welcome new Portlanders as a result of Inner Eastside for All. While we have disagreements with Clark - she voted no on the algorithmic rent price-fixing ban, and is been skeptical of housing-first approaches to homelessness -  her track record on zoning, permitting, and transportation funding gives us confidence she'll continue to be a strong vote for our core policy priorities in the years ahead. You can visit her campaign website to learn more and get involved.

Our process

Our 2026 endorsements process was led by our committed volunteers making up the 2026 Endorsements Committee and supported by our Political and Organizing Director, Jesse Rawlins. This year’s committee members included: Jennifer Park, Maisie Miller, David Binning, Dave Peticolas, Zach Turcich, Heidi Hart, Luke Norman, and Indi Namkoong. All registered candidates were contacted and invited to participate in our endorsements process. From that invite, we received responses from 18 candidates for our candidate questionnaire. We encourage our members and Portlanders to view those full responses. Candidate questionnaire responses were scored, and interviews were requested with select candidates. The committee used interview answers, questionnaire responses, and a fuller candidate assessment to select endorsement recommendations to our Board of Directors. All recommendations were approved by our Board of Directors, giving us our slate of endorsements for Portland City Council District 3 and 4 races.

Out of our assessed candidates, we also wanted to provide some information about our decision for candidates that we did not support for an endorsement.

• Cristal Otero (District 3 candidate) brought real depth from her nearly six years working on housing and homelessness at Multnomah County, with strong, specific answers on supportive housing, anti-displacement tools, and thinking about transportation as part of the household budget. We decided to not interview or move forward to consider an endorsement because of not qualifying for the Small Donor Elections program at the time of our selection and a larger viability threshold.

• Esther León (District 3 candidate) offered an interesting "Holistic Zoning" platform drawing on the simplicity of Japanese mixed-use zoning models, along with support for the Inner Eastside Zoning Project and expanded Portland Street Response. We didn't conduct an interview or otherwise consider for an endorsement as she did not meet our viability threshold or qualify for the Small Donor Elections program at the time of our selection.

• Councilor Steve Novick (District 3 candidate) has been a supportive voice and vote for Inner Eastside for All through his time on Council, working with his co-chair Councilor Angelita Morillo to advance the resolution to accelerate the Inner Eastside Zoning Project through the Climate, Land Use, Zoning Committee earlier this year. However, Councilor Novick chose not to take part in the Portland: Neighbors Welcome endorsement process this cycle.

• Jeremy Beausoleil Smith (District 4 candidate) would bring a unique perspective to this Council’s housing work thanks to his experience in the construction sector. We appreciated his positive energy, strong alignment with our values, and motivation to advance social housing. However, his knowledge of many of our priority housing issues was limited. We hope to see him continue to build his understanding and leadership as a future housing champion.

• Councilor Eric Zimmerman ( District 4 candidate) has a proven record of clearing barriers to housing production, including cosponsoring a package of reforms to the City’s design review process with Councilor Angelita Morillo. We appreciate his vision for mixed-income communities and housing abundance, and we look forward to future collaboration to advance it together. However, our endorsement committee found his responses and record on policy approaches to homelessness were not well aligned with our values around housing justice.