The 2026 race for Multnomah County chair among Sharon Meieran, Julia Brim-Edwards, and Shannon Singleton, in which homeless services restructuring is a central issue.
Willamette Week · on the three Multnomah County chair candidates on Sunstone Way contract oversight
In WW endorsement interviews, chair candidates Shannon Singleton, Sharon Meieran and Julia Brim-Edwards each answered what oversight should have caught Sunstone Way, the homeless services nonprofit the county said in June had billed $3.6 million in unallowable expenses since 2024 and which has since shut down. Singleton said county fiscal monitoring is done “more as a spot check” and that underperforming contractors should lose funding; Meieran said focusing on individual contracts “will just continue to manage decline” and called for contracting that ties spending to results; Brim-Edwards said her budget note requires outcomes to be entered in the county’s contract management system, with a review of all county contracts possible in January. WW noted the county has spent some $150 million a year in Supportive Housing Services tax dollars since 2021.
The county’s letter alleging $3.6 million in unallowable Sunstone Way billing went out in June 2026; the November 3 chair election is the county’s first using ranked-choice voting.
KOIN 6 · on homelessness, camping and the deflection center at the county chair debate
Julia Brim-Edwards, Sharon Meieran and Shannon Singleton debated Monday night at Portland State University in a KOIN 6 and City Club of Portland forum, with homelessness, addiction and the county's deflection center as the main subjects. All three said they do not support camping on the streets; Singleton and Brim-Edwards said drug testing or treatment should not be required to receive services such as shelter, and Singleton and Meieran said the deflection center is not working while Brim-Edwards said it had improved. Asked about the county's Moda Center commitment of over $100 million, Meieran and Brim-Edwards said they supported the investment, Singleton said any deal should benefit the communities displaced from Lower Albina, and Brim-Edwards and Singleton named a motor vehicle rental tax as a plausible funding source.
The three are running to replace Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, who opted not to run for a second four-year term.
In a Thursday campaign letter, Mayor Keith Wilson endorsed Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County chair, writing she would be "an essential partner for me and my work at the city" on homelessness, mental health, public safety and economic revitalization. Brim-Edwards faces Commissioner Shannon Singleton and former Commissioner Sharon Meieran to succeed Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, who is not seeking another term. Wilson recommended ranking Brim-Edwards first and made no recommendation for other rankings under the county's new ranked-choice system.
Earlier this week Wilson endorsed Olivia Clark, Eric Zimmerman, Steve Novick and Kellie Torres for city council; the general election is November 3.
East Portland News · on Sharon Meieran's homeless-spending critique at a Lents neighborhood meeting
Multnomah County chair candidate Sharon Meieran told the Lents Neighborhood Livability Association's August meeting that the county's homeless services budget grew from $50 million to $400 million annually over ten years while homelessness worsened threefold, and that the county's $25 million deflection center has not, by her account, transitioned a single person into treatment in two years of operation. 4D Recovery executive director Tony Vezina told the same meeting that Housing First policies amount to what he called "toxic empathy" and advocated a "Recovery First" approach.
Meieran represented District 1 on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners from January 2017 to January 2025; the race for chair also includes Julia Brim-Edwards and Shannon Singleton.
Campaign finance watchdog Seth Woolley filed a complaint Monday with Multnomah County and state elections officials alleging Sharon Meieran's county chair campaign and her political action committee, Fixing Multnomah County, committed eight campaign finance violations. The complaint says the PAC collected just over $70,000 from a handful of donors to fund a "Comprehensive Multnomah County Turnaround Plan" that Woolley argues should have been reported as an in-kind contribution to her campaign. Meieran denied wrongdoing, calling the complaint "a cynical effort to make it seem like it's somehow cheating that I put substance before politics and spent a year working with experts to write a comprehensive plan to fix the county."
Woolley's complaint contends the alleged violation should be prosecuted as a Class C felony; Meieran faces Julia Brim-Edwards and Shannon Singleton in the November 2026 chair race.
The Oregonian reported the first fundraising comparison in the county chair race: Julia Brim-Edwards has raised just over $164,000, Sharon Meieran about $73,000 and Shannon Singleton $23,000, according to financial disclosure records. The paper reported that two leading candidates are touting growing rosters of labor and institutional backers while a third is publicly forswearing such support.
AFSCME Local 88, the county's largest employee union, endorsed Brim-Edwards on August 21.
Multnomah County Commissioner Shannon Singleton announced endorsements in the county chair race from SEIU Local 503, the Portland Association of Teachers, the Sierra Club, Basic Rights Oregon, Latino Network Action Fund, and the Oregon Working Families Party. Willamette Week reported that SEIU's was a dual endorsement with rival Julia Brim-Edwards, recommending voters rank Brim-Edwards first and Singleton second.
AFSCME Local 88, the county's largest employee union, endorsed Brim-Edwards on August 21, and the Oregon Nurses Association endorsed her on August 18.
AFSCME Local 88, which represents about 4,000 Multnomah County employees, endorsed Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards for county chair, days after the Oregon Nurses Association did the same. Per the latest state filings reported by WW, Brim-Edwards has raised $162,503 this year to Shannon Singleton's $23,095; WW reported that Singleton has significant progressive support of her own, including from the left flank of the Portland City Council.
Brim-Edwards already held endorsements from all six mayors in Multnomah County as of April 2026.
AFSCME Local 88, Multnomah County's largest employee union with about 4,000 represented county employees, endorsed Julia Brim-Edwards for county chair; Willamette Week called it the latest and perhaps most significant union endorsement in the race. The article notes opponent Shannon Singleton has so far raised significantly less than both of her opponents.
The Oregon Nurses Association endorsed Brim-Edwards on August 18, and all six of the county's city mayors endorsed her in April.
The Oregon Nurses Association, which represents more than 25,000 nurses statewide, endorsed Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County chair. Brim-Edwards has raised $162,503 this year, more than opponents Sharon Meieran and Shannon Singleton, whose committee has raised $23,095.
Brim-Edwards previously secured endorsements from all six county mayors and the Northwest Oregon Labor Council; seven Portland School Board members published a letter opposing her in July.
Campaign filings showed Fixing Multnomah County, a PAC former Commissioner Sharon Meieran founded in October 2025, raised $70,116 — including $10,000 apiece from developer Homer Williams and former City Commissioner Amanda Fritz — to produce a 23-page county restructuring plan that uses homeless services as its case study and is central to her campaign for county chair against Commissioners Julia Brim-Edwards and Shannon Singleton. Seth Woolley said the plan meets the definition of an in-kind contribution subject to the county's $603-per-donor limit; Meieran said the plan is publicly available to any candidate and does not need to be reported. A county spokesperson said no formal complaint has been filed.
Multnomah County's $603-per-donor contribution limit for county candidates comes from a charter amendment voters approved in 2016.