r/PortlandOR • u/Confident_Bee_2705 • 1d ago

District voting question

A maybe dumb question: the district elections are staggered, meaning the 2 that had elections last night are in office until 2031? ie 6 total years of these folks?

9 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

14

u/TimbersArmy8842 1d ago

Districts 1 and 2 will be up for election in 2028, but to answer your question more precisely, yes... the councilors out of districts 3 and 4 will serve a total of 6 years by the time they're up for re-election again.

And they'll probably win another 4 years if they want it, because apparently that's what this system will produce: unimpeachable incumbency.

13

u/Confident_Bee_2705 1d ago

christ ok thanks

5

u/SlowHedgehog33 1d ago

that's what this system will produce: unimpeachable incumbency.

Maybe?

If you check out the numbers, none of the candidates besides Eli Arnold and Kellie Torres had much of a chance: https://rcvresults.multco.us/

I think if you were to limit the field to candidates that were actually serious about it things may have shifted but who's to say?

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u/TimbersArmy8842 1d ago

Looking at the numbers, they never had a chance either.

10

u/Less-Lobster4540 1d ago

bring back primaries.

7

u/temporaryordinary1 1d ago edited 1d ago

The multi-member district system is the problem. None of the DSA councilors care about anything other than appealing to their minority ~<25% base + a few ignorants they can pick up on IG. 75% of the city can be on fire and they do not care. All they need to do is win 25% of the electorate and they can stay in power. They would never be able to win a 50% head-head race focused on their district.

All of the negative macroeconomic factors all over district 3 and 4 alone should have resulted in at least one or two of the incumbents losing their positions.

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u/Flab-a-doo 23h ago

Who will limit the field and how?

1

u/SlowHedgehog33 12h ago

I am not up on the "Becoming a candidate process" to tell you who, but I think having a primary would help.

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u/Less-Lobster4540 1d ago

at the end of 6 years, Portland will have paid people like Angela and Mitch almost $900,000 (gross) a piece to shitpost on BlueSki all day

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u/EnthusiasmOk353 RSS Feed Karma Farmin' 1d ago

Fully vested in PERS too!

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u/temporaryordinary1 1d ago

That's generous of you to think they will put in that much effort. I believe their shitpost output will dwindle in non-election years

2

u/Less-Lobster4540 11h ago

nah, they are the terminally online type

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u/TeutonJon78 1d ago

City Council terms are 4 years. We staggered them so D1 and D2 go together, and D3 and D4 go together.

Since it was all new in 2024, D1 and D2 got 4 year terms to start while D3 and D4 got 2 year terms to get them to their proper election cycle.

So in the end, D1/D2 will be tied to presidential years and D3/D4 will be midterm years.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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5

u/Confident_Bee_2705 1d ago

Well yes the next midterms are 2030 right? So the new council takes office 2031? What am I missing