KATU · on housing production claims in the first Kotek–Drazan debate
Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican challenger Christine Drazan met Thursday night at the University of Oregon in Eugene for the first debate of the 2026 governor's race. Kotek said Oregon's housing starts were up 11.5% comparing the first six months of this year to the same period last year and credited permitting and infrastructure changes; Drazan called Kotek's housing policies "an abysmal failure" and said the state had "almost 10-year record lows in housing production." KATU noted Kotek secured $200 million from lawmakers in 2023 for homelessness and housing.
The election is Nov. 3, 2026; the debate was hosted by KVAL with the Oregon Journalism Project, Lookout Eugene-Springfield and the UO School of Journalism and Communication.
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.
A DHM Research poll of 915 likely voters commissioned by OPB and conducted September 17–27 put Republican Christine Drazan at 47% and Gov. Tina Kotek at 46% after leaners were pushed, with a 3.24% margin of error. Asked the state’s top problem, 52% of respondents named cost of living, housing affordability, high tax rates or the job market; pollster John Horvick said homelessness, crime and drug use had topped voter concerns four years earlier. Kotek drew 54% of tri-county Portland-area voters, down from roughly 61% in 2022.
Polls in late June and early September showed Drazan ahead by 4 and 2 points respectively.
Commissioners Nafisa Fai and Pam Treece, in a November 3 runoff for Washington County chair after Fai took 39.1% and Treece 33.1% in May, answered written questions on housing and homelessness. Fai said the county should increase supply, use its Moving to Work authority and prevent homelessness before people lose their homes, and that “no one should have to use the streets as a waiting room for housing.” Treece said she supports new shelters and transitional housing with good neighbor agreements and cited the Center for Addictions Triage and Treatment’s on-site housing and medical services.
Neither candidate reached 50% in the May primary, which triggered the November runoff.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Times, released September 23, put Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39% and Mayor Karen Bass at 28% among likely Los Angeles voters, with 33% undecided. The online survey of 2,150 likely city voters ran September 15-20 with a margin of error of about 3 points. Bass's unfavorable rating was 63%; the poll listed moving homeless people indoors and building more affordable housing among voters' top issues.
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.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Times put Councilmember Nithya Raman at 39% and Mayor Karen Bass at 28% among likely Los Angeles voters, with 33% undecided; it surveyed 2,150 likely city voters online September 15–20. Bass's favorability was 28% favorable to 63% unfavorable, and Raman's 40% to 39%. IGS director Mark DiCamillo said "Raman clearly has the advantage" and called the share of undecided voters "extraordinarily unusual" this close to an election.
Bass finished first in the June 2 primary, 34% to Raman's 29%; mail ballots for the November 3 runoff go out beginning October 1.
Campaign finance reports through September 19 show Mayor Karen Bass with $1.5 million in direct contributions and $1 million in city matching funds, and Councilmember Nithya Raman with $1.1 million in contributions and $1.4 million in matching funds, totals of $2.51 million and $2.53 million. Raman reported about $1.9 million cash on hand versus nearly $1.2 million for Bass. The carpenters-sponsored Estamos Con Nithya committee has taken in $6 million, half from hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick, while the Los Angeles Police Protective League has put nearly $2.8 million into pro-Bass efforts and Airbnb spent $1.75 million on a pro-Bass primary committee.
The city's matching fund program pays $6 in public funds for every $1 from local contributors, up to $257 per qualifying donor; the runoff is November 3.
Mayor Keith Wilson told KGW's "Straight Talk" that he has declined to endorse three incumbents, Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Mitch Green, saying "I have a litmus test and I can't in good conscience endorse anybody who advocates for the abolishment of our police." Wilson said all three answered a questionnaire committing to a "national platform" that included abolishing the police, and that Morillo and Koyama Lane "made similar commitments in writing" to Green's. He said whether Green should resign is "a conversation that Councilor Green has to have with his conscience"; Portland DSA posted that "None of those candidates sought Wilson's endorsement."
Wilson has endorsed Kellie Torres in District 3 and Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County chair.
President Trump met Mayor Zohran Mamdani at Gracie Mansion on September 21 and told him "Hopefully you're going to be a great one," the AP reported, in a story describing Republicans from Georgia and Texas to New York and Michigan as focused on the rise of democratic socialism in the midterm season; Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Tom Emmer had called Mamdani "Comrade Mamdani" and "Mamdani the commie" at Trump's midterm convention in Texas earlier in the month. Republican strategist Doug Heye said of the meeting, "It doesn't help." Mamdani said, "I will continue to have conversations with the president, and frankly, anyone who can deliver relief to the people of this city."
The Guardian reported it was the first presidential visit to Gracie Mansion in 45 years, since Ronald Reagan met Ed Koch there in 1981.
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.
Portland Mercury · on the Ditch Mitch, Go PDX and Fix MultCo PACs and their billboards
The Mercury reported that three PACs registered to activist Kyle Prosen — Ditch Mitch, Go PDX and Fix MultCo — filed statements of organization on September 14, seven days after the first "Ditch Mitch" billboard went up on Beaverton Hillsdale Highway, and that United for Portland Action Fund, whose treasurer is Portland Metro Chamber executive Jon Isaacs, is listed as the billboards' top funder. A second anti-Green billboard went up on St. Helens Road and a third in Foster/Powell; Lamar's public dashboard lists the Beaverton Hillsdale sign at $6,500 for four weeks and a Fix MultCo billboard for Julia Brim-Edwards at $10,000 for four weeks. Green told KPTV "I'm not surprised to see that the Portland Metro Chamber is funding these billboards and these attacks"; the Mercury reported he paid the $7,328 property tax bill cited on the billboard on June 29.
Oregon law requires a PAC to file a statement of organization within three days of receiving a contribution or making an expenditure.
Four Oregon voters filed complaints with the Secretary of State's office alleging that Police Chief Bob Day's statement on the city website responding to Councilor Green's resurfaced 2020–21 posts violated the state law barring non-elected public employees from political activity, KPTV reported. The complainants said Day used his position and city resources to "campaign" against Green, who is running for re-election; Day's statement did not name Green but said "I no longer have confidence that this councilor is evaluating the police bureau reasonably and objectively." The Secretary of State's office said it had not determined whether to open an investigation.
The Portland Police Association called for Green's resignation the previous week; Green declined in a KGW interview on September 17.
KSTP said it will host primetime statewide debates on October 2 for governor, U.S. Senate and attorney general, and that Michele Tafoya, the Republican Senate nominee, Lisa Demuth and Ron Schutz had confirmed plans to appear; Peggy Flanagan was not among those listed as confirmed. The station reported there were no mutually agreed televised debates in any statewide Minnesota race as of September 22, four days after early voting began. Larry Jacobs of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School said each debate decision came down to "Strategy. Who is it going to help. Who is it going to hurt?"
Early voting in Minnesota began September 18; the 2022 governor's race had two debates.
Gov. Tina Kotek released a reelection platform, "Building Oregon's Future Together," organized around affordability, the economy, K-12 schools and defending the state against federal policies. On affordability, she pledged to pursue universal preschool statewide and to continue her effort to increase affordable housing options; OPB reported the plan does not detail how she would pay for those initiatives. The platform lists an increase in new housing starts among her first-term accomplishments, while OPB noted Oregon is on track to build less housing this year than when Kotek took office.
Republican challenger Christine Drazan released her own plan in late August.
The Portland Police Association called for Councilor Mitch Green to resign over posts he made in 2020 and 2021 describing "pure hatred for Portland Police" and calling officers "absolute monsters," surfaced by a Portland political commentator and reported by The Oregonian. Police Chief Bob Day said in a statement that he no longer has confidence Green is evaluating the Police Bureau reasonably and objectively. Green declined to resign, saying in a statement that Portland police used force against protesters more than 6,000 times in 2020 and citing the police oversight ballot measure that more than 80 percent of Portland voters passed in November 2020.
Green is one of three DSA-endorsed councilors on the November 2026 ballot; he is up for reelection in District 4.
El-Sayed met with Senate Democrats on Wednesday at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters, where DSCC chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said, "He's a great candidate. He's going to win, and we are all united." Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said he plans to travel to Michigan to campaign with El-Sayed. El-Sayed won the August primary over Rep. Haley Stevens, who had been recruited by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
A Times/Siena national poll of likely voters found 51 percent held an unfavorable view of socialism and 31 percent a favorable one, while 44 percent said it did not matter to them either way if a Democratic candidate ran as a democratic socialist. The poll found 18 percent of voters considered themselves democratic socialists, and 55 percent of Democratic voters viewed socialism favorably, up from 50 percent in the May Times/Siena poll. The Times' reporters wrote that the movement "remains unpopular with much of America" despite its primary victories.
The poll surveyed 1,503 voters September 8–13, with a margin of error of ±2.9 points among the likely electorate; the May Times/Siena poll surveyed registered rather than likely voters.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League released a 30-second television ad Friday criticizing Councilwoman Nithya Raman's opposition to Municipal Code 41.18, the city's anti-camping law, ahead of the November 3 mayoral election between Raman and Mayor Karen Bass. The union provided $620,000 for the campaign and the Los Angeles Professional Manager's Association contributed another $100,000, for a total of $720,000.
LAPPL president Ricky Mendoza said in the ad campaign that Raman voted more than 75 times against banning encampments near schools, parks and daycares; the runoff is November 3.
A St. Pete Polls survey of 913 likely Florida voters conducted September 15–17 put Sen. Ashley Moody at 45.2 percent to Nixon's 44.8 percent, within the poll's 3.2-point margin of error — the second poll showing the special election effectively tied, after a Change Research survey conducted September 7–9 had the race at 47–47. The RealClearPolling average has Moody at 48.3 percent to Nixon's 43.3 percent.
No Democrat has won a statewide race in Florida since 2018; the special election is November 3, 2026.
A downtown billboard reading "Politician Mitch Green voted to use your taxes. Didn't pay his own taxes" is funded by a political action committee called Ditch Mitch, registered this week with the Oregon Secretary of State. The PAC's website says its biggest funder so far is the United for Portland Action fund, a PAC created and funded by the Portland Metro Chamber. Willamette Week reported that no contributions or expenditures had yet appeared in the state database, which it attributed to the seven-day reporting window.
The billboard refers to a $7,328 property tax bill Green failed to pay until The Oregonian pointed it out to him this summer.
A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released this week showed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Republican Michele Tafoya essentially tied in the Minnesota Senate race, with 12 percent of voters undecided and 4 percent supporting other candidates; the same poll a month earlier had Flanagan up 5 points. The poll was released days before Minnesota early voting begins. Flanagan led among moderate voters by 15 points, with 17 percent of that group undecided.
The prior KSTP/SurveyUSA poll was taken after the August 11 primary.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a six-week, 20-state bus tour, the "Free Enterprise Express," urging midterm voters to reject socialism, departing this weekend for stops in Pennsylvania and New York in support of Republican candidates in three competitive House districts. The Chamber plans to promote more than 30 candidates as part of what CEO Suzanne Clark called a multiyear "nine-figure" effort. The Chamber's September 18 announcement said the tour builds on a $100 million contribution, the largest donation in its 114-year history.
The Chamber's announcement describes more than 50 events across the 20 states before the November 3 election.
The Mercury's news team and editors published a five-byline editorial arguing that the calls for Councilor Mitch Green's resignation from the police union, the police chief, and other elected officials are, in the board's words, an attempt to meddle in local elections. The editorial states: "This is not about one councilor. It is about how we hold onto a free and fair democracy locally, in the face of federal efforts to consolidate power and bully anyone who disagrees."
Portland Police Association President Aaron Schmautz called for Green's resignation on September 16, the day before the editorial ran.
Harris's spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the former vice president will campaign in Michigan with El-Sayed at an event highlighting Black maternal health, and will also meet with local elected officials and faith-based leaders. Harris endorsed El-Sayed in August after he won the primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.
Local reporting places the event on Tuesday, September 22, a roundtable on healthcare costs and Black maternal health.
Raman released her first general-election ad, a 30-second spot narrated by Bob Odenkirk and timed to air around Monday's Emmy Awards, in which she promises to "fight to keep Hollywood in Hollywood" and says Mayor Karen Bass has not acted with enough urgency on entertainment job losses. Bass's campaign said Raman "never introduced a single piece of legislation to help the film industry" and recused herself from four of seven film-permitting items in March 2026 because of her husband's industry work; the paper noted Raman participated in the other film votes that day. FilmLA reported 4,711 permitted shoot days in Greater Los Angeles in the second quarter of 2026, down 12.7 percent from a year earlier.
New Haven Independent · on the DSA-endorsed win in New Haven's Ward 9 alder special election
Maria-Threese Serana, a Co-Op High School biology teacher endorsed by the Connecticut DSA chapter and the Ward 9 Democratic Ward Committee, won Tuesday's special election for New Haven's Ward 9 Board of Alders seat, taking 186 votes at the polls to Gavin Arnold's 16. She fills the remainder of the term vacated by Caroline Tanbee Smith in early August, running through the end of 2027, and becomes the second democratic socialist to serve on the Board of Alders, after former Ward 9 Alder Charles Decker.
Two of the original four candidates, Blaise Berglund and Conor Gilligan, dropped out in late August and endorsed Serana.
A DHM Research poll of 600 likely voters conducted September 11 found Republican Christine Drazan at 45% and Gov. Tina Kotek at 43%, a margin inside the poll's 4% margin of error. Homelessness and housing are among the issues voters named in the race.
Kotek defeated Drazan in the 2022 governor's race; the 2026 election is November 3.
The political committee Affordable Housing for Clark County announced a campaign to pass Charter Amendment 24, on the November ballot, which would require the county to publish a Housing Impact Analysis before adopting land-use and construction code changes affecting residential housing. The campaign cited an estimated 15,700-unit county housing deficit and projections requiring roughly 4,767 homes per year through 2045, against a past-decade average of about 3,895 units annually. Charter Review Commissioner John Jay, the amendment's sponsor, said the goal is to give the County Council "all the tools they need to assess the viability of future regulations."
The amendment does not limit the County Council's authority to adopt regulations; it requires the analysis to be published before the public hearing on a qualifying proposal.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and Los Angeles mayoral challenger Nithya Raman presented homelessness platforms at a forum hosted by the nonprofit Hope the Mission and KTLA5. Raman cited a Los Angeles Times report that 40% of Inside Safe participants returned to the streets and proposed short-term rental vouchers she said have a 75% effectiveness rate at moving people to permanent housing or self-sustainability; Hilton called California's homelessness situation a "scandal."
The 2026 Greater L.A. Homeless Count estimated 45,000 unhoused people in the city of Los Angeles, a 3.4% increase after two years of decreases.
Rhode Island Current · on Providence mayoral primary won by DSA member David Morales
State Rep. David Morales, a 27-year-old member of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, defeated incumbent Providence Mayor Brett Smiley in Wednesday's Democratic primary, 57% to 43%, with 31% turnout. Smiley's campaign spent $652,537 from August 12 through September 1, about 7.6 times the $85,789 Morales's campaign spent. Morales faces Republican Dave Talan in the November 3 general election; three Working Families Party-backed council candidates also won their primaries.
The Providence City Council's 4% rent-cap ordinance, vetoed by Smiley in April, fell one vote short of a veto override in May.
A CNN/SSRS poll of 843 Michigan likely voters conducted August 31–September 6 put Abdul El-Sayed at 47% and Mike Rogers at 44%, inside the poll's 4.1-point margin of error. Fifty percent of voters called El-Sayed's positions too liberal, against 42% who called Rogers too conservative. Black likely voters backed El-Sayed 77% to 10%, and 40% of Black voters and of voters under 35 said they had not firmly decided.
El-Sayed lost Wayne County, home to Detroit, by roughly 17,000 votes in the August Democratic primary against Haley Stevens.
The Standard reported that the candidates running for District 10 supervisor could determine the outcome of the standoff over 60 tiny cabins that have sat unused in storage at the Jerrold Commons homeless shelter in the Bayview. Supervisor Shamann Walton criticized the mayor's office last year when officials moved the cabins from the Mission to the Bayview.
The Standard reported September 2 that the cabins cost $7 million and had sat empty for nearly a year.
At the two-day Republican midterm convention in Dallas September 9–10, speakers repeatedly invoked communism, socialism, and Marxism, with Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed the most frequent target; Rogers said of his opponent, "He's a con man. I'm a law man," and Trump said of democratic socialists, "actually they're communists." Trump promised American adults $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate. NPR reported thousands of empty seats on both days, including almost all of the upper level.
The House passed a resolution condemning socialism the previous week, with 8 Democrats joining Republicans.
Block Club Chicago's Quinn Myers reported that Chicago DSA's membership has grown to 3,200 people, about 1,000 of them added over the past year, while national DSA membership passed 120,000 in July. The chapter declined to endorse incumbent alderpeople Jeanette Taylor and Daniel La Spata; Taylor called the group "anti-Black," and WTTW News reporting cited in the piece said the chapter dropped La Spata after he declined to identify as "anti-Zionist." Critics quoted in the piece attributed the friction to weak coalition-building across the city's neighborhoods.
Six DSA-backed candidates were elected to Chicago's 50-member City Council in 2023, matching the caucus's 2019 total.
Willamette Week reported that Councilors Koyama Lane, Morillo, and Green — the three DSA members among the six council incumbents seeking reelection — have each logged more than 1,600 campaign contributions through the city's Small Donor Elections program, nearly 750 more than their centrist colleagues running for reelection. Per the program's website, Koyama Lane has received $200,000 in matching funds, Morillo $160,000, and Green $162,000. The paper reported the only nonincumbent at similar levels is District 4 candidate Eli Arnold, at $194,000.
The Small Donor Elections program matches contributions by up to 10 to 1; the general election is November 3, 2026.
Rogers attacked El-Sayed over ties to streamer Hasan Piker, who in 2019 said "America deserved 9/11"; El-Sayed, who has distanced himself from Piker, responded Friday by citing Rogers's vote against the 2010 James Zadroga Act providing healthcare to 9/11 first responders. Rogers said on X the "insinuation that I do not support the victims or their families is patently false" and cited an annual $150 million appropriation he advocated. GOP groups supporting Rogers have run at least three ads referencing 9/11 and Piker's comments; El-Sayed's supporters and Muslim advocacy groups called the association attempts Islamophobic.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the leading Senate Republican super PAC, has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.
The Mercury profiled the twelve candidates running for three seats in District 4, including incumbents Mitch Green, Olivia Clark, and Eric Zimmerman. Green's profile describes an economist and Army veteran focused on fossil fuel accountability and social housing; Zimmerman's describes a councilor "considered part of the Council's moderate bloc, largely using the position to block policies brought by progressive councilors."
Green was elected to a two-year City Council term in 2024, so his seat is on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
Moody told Spectrum News she does not intend to debate Nixon this fall, saying "I am running against a self-proclaimed socialist who, when has been given a stage, likes to quote the Communist Manifesto and, very disturbingly, cop-killers." Nixon, campaigning in St. Petersburg, cited a leaked Leon County grand jury report finding the DeSantis administration "misappropriated" $10 million of taxpayer money in 2024, with Moody as attorney general aware of the plans. Nixon, who joined DSA in June, also cited an AP report that about 440,000 Floridians dropped ACA coverage this year, more than any other state.
Nixon's primary opponent Alex Vindman also declined to debate her; Nixon won the August 18 Democratic primary by double digits.
The Trump-affiliated No Going Back PAC reserved more than $74 million in ad time across 15 House races and Senate races in six battleground states — Alaska, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Ohio — according to ad research firm AdImpact. Reuters reported that Trump's political operation is supporting the new group, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Senate Leadership Fund has announced over $45 million in ad reservations in Michigan this fall.
New York Post · on Nithya Raman's DSA-LA endorsement
At a Wednesday press conference, the Post pressed Raman on why she held press conferences for union endorsements but none for DSA-LA's, and on whether the group's "extreme left-wing ideology" would help Los Angeles; Raman did not directly answer, saying "I believe my policies and my agenda will help the city." The Post reported she waited a day before acknowledging the DSA-LA endorsement on social media. DSA-LA endorsed Raman on September 2 after she secured more than 60% of the vote among participating chapter members.
Raman called the press conference to criticize Mayor Karen Bass over homelessness oversight after Bass stepped down from the LAHSA Commission on September 9.
The Mercury published candidate profiles for City Council District 4, where twelve candidates are running for three seats; incumbents Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman are seeking reelection. Housing positions diverge across the field: Green campaigns on the city's social housing investment in permanently affordable city-owned properties, Zimmerman called for ending unsanctioned camping as quickly as possible, and challenger Josh Leake proposes converting the ICE facility into a "medically driven" sobering center.
The Mercury published its District 3 candidate guide on September 9.
At a September 9 news conference with City Controller Kenneth Mejia, Councilmember Nithya Raman said Mayor Karen Bass had failed to oversee hundreds of millions in homelessness spending and pledged that, if elected, the city would manage its homelessness funding by the end of her first year, with Mejia given greater audit access. Bass's campaign said her departure from the LAHSA Commission does not change who oversees the funding. Raman said unsheltered homelessness fell 49% in her district in the most recent count; the 2026 count estimated 45,194 people homeless citywide, up 3.4%, with unsheltered homelessness up 7.9% to 29,115.
A federal judge in August issued a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration's June suspension of LAHSA's HUD funding while LAHSA's lawsuit proceeds.
Portland Mercury · on housing positions in Portland's District 3 council race
The Mercury published a voter guide profiling the 21 candidates running for three council seats this November in District 3, which covers most of inner Southeast Portland plus parts of Northeast and outer Southeast Portland to I-205. The guide recounts incumbent records on housing: Tiffany Koyama Lane passed an ordinance banning algorithmic rental price-fixing software, and Angelita Morillo brought forward housing permitting reforms and opposed the Moda Center project funding. Challenger positions in the guide range from Patrick Hilton's opposition to increased-density rezoning in favor of adaptive reuse to Keir Legree's support for requiring drug-recovery engagement or employment to access homeless services.
District 3 incumbents Koyama Lane, Morillo and Novick were elected in November 2024 under Portland's first ranked-choice, multi-member district election.
Willamette Week · on Portland City Council DSA incumbents' small-donor fundraising totals
Willamette Week reported that council incumbents Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo and Mitch Green — all Democratic Socialists of America members — have each logged more than 1,600 campaign contributions through Portland's Small Donor Elections program, which the paper said is nearly 750 more than their centrist colleagues seeking reelection. Per the program's website, Koyama Lane has received $200,000 in matching funds, Morillo $160,000 and Green $162,000.
The House adopted House Resolution 1490, denouncing socialism "in all its forms," by a 220–192 vote, with eight Democrats — Castor, Cuellar, Davis, Golden, Gonzalez, Gluesenkamp Perez, Soto and Vasquez — voting in favor and two voting present. The resolution also states support for the stalled SAVE America Act, which Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries cited as his reason for voting no. Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar called Golden's and Gluesenkamp Perez's votes for the procedural rule "a significant breach of trust" and asked the Committee on Caucus Rules to take the matter up.
CBS News reported the SAVE America Act has been stalled in the Senate for months, where it lacks simple-majority support.
In the Guardian, Alice Speri reported that left-of-center candidates in the 2026 midterms differ in their relationships to DSA, sorting them into longtime organizers such as New York's Claire Valdez, non-members who share the group's priorities such as Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed, and longtime socialists who joined only recently such as Colorado's Melat Kiros and Pennsylvania's Chris Rabb. The piece cited DSA membership of 120,000 and a poll it said found one-third of Democrats identify as "socialist." It reported that after DSA candidates won nine of ten races the group contested in New York City in June, Third Way announced a $15 million effort against them.
The Conversation · on DSA-affiliated members' prospective leverage in the next Congress
Political scientists SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor of the University of Virginia and Charlie Hunt of Boise State University argued that the influence of DSA-affiliated lawmakers in the next Congress — with at least a half-dozen candidates they described as all but guaranteed seats — will depend on party margins, bloc cohesion and leadership's institutional advantages rather than on numbers alone. They cited the Freedom Caucus as precedent, including Kevin McCarthy's 15-ballot speaker election, and noted median model predictions giving Democrats House control by as many as 30 seats.
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.
WBUR · on Sen. Ed Markey's primary win over Rep. Seth Moulton
Sen. Ed Markey, 80, defeated Rep. Seth Moulton in the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary, taking 65% of the vote to Moulton's 35% with 95% of ballots counted; Moulton had centered his campaign on Markey's age. It is the second consecutive primary in which Markey defeated a younger challenger, after his win over Joe Kennedy III. Markey has pledged that this will be his final term if he wins in November.
Markey faces Republican nominee John Deaton, who lost to Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024, in the November 3 general election.
The Hill reported that Democratic strategists worry the party's association with democratic socialism is hampering efforts to win back Hispanic voters lost since 2024, particularly older voters with roots in Cuba and Venezuela. It cited a Pew Research Center survey finding 20 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters view political leaders who identify as democratic socialists favorably, compared with 21 percent of Black Democrats, 30 percent of Asian Democrats and 40 percent of white Democrats. Strategists quoted in the piece said the label could persist into the 2028 presidential race even if Democrats prevail in the midterms.
The Pew survey the piece cites was conducted January 20–26, 2026.
Portland DSA · on Portland DSA's endorsed slate for the November 3, 2026 election
Portland DSA announced its endorsed slate for the November 3 general election: incumbent Councilors Mitch Green (District 4), Tiffany Koyama Lane (District 3) and Angelita Morillo (District 3), plus Tammy Carpenter for Oregon House District 27, Farrah Chaichi for Oregon House District 35 and Nathan Ong Norris for Multnomah County Commissioner District 2. The chapter said candidates are endorsed by vote of dues-paying members at its monthly general meetings.
All three endorsed incumbent councilors were first elected in November 2024.
Reuters interviewed more than two dozen activists, strategists and community leaders on whether DSA-aligned nominees can win Black voters in November, reporting that some voters want candidates focused on housing, healthcare and living costs rather than on Gaza or policing. The piece reported that Angie Nixon overcame a more-than-16-to-1 fundraising disadvantage against Alex Vindman while running up large margins in Black communities, and that Republican nominee Mike Rogers ran unopposed in Michigan and has built a $4.5 million campaign fund. DSA national co-chair Ashik Siddique said the group focuses on "economic solutions that bring people together across identity differences."
Portland's city elections officer and the Oregon Secretary of State's Elections Division dismissed complaints alleging Councilor Mitch Green improperly used public resources on an Instagram video posted around August 11. City Elections Officer Louise Hansen wrote that sharing the video did not constitute an in-kind contribution because it was an official message containing information about city business; the state division declined to investigate. The complaints were filed August 17 by T.J. Anderson, a District 4 council candidate running against Green, and Deian Salazar.
The Oregonian reported the complaints on August 24, one week after they were filed.
State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven won the Democratic primary for the open 2nd Middlesex state Senate seat covering Somerville and Medford after all three active opponents conceded on election night; she had 38% of the vote with 81% of ballots counted. She led second-place state Rep. Christine Barber by 2,050 votes per the Associated Press, with Burhan Azeem at 15% and Matthew McLaughlin at 14%.
No Republican is on the general-election ballot for the seat; incumbent Sen. Pat Jehlen is retiring.
Fox News reported that William Lawrence, a DSA member running for Congress in Michigan who has campaigned with Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, said on a podcast that he wanted to inspire a sense of abundance "while frankly, destroying the American way of life," and that El-Sayed was scheduled to appear September 5 at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention. The piece reported El-Sayed spoke at six events held by DSA chapters between 2017 and 2020, including as keynote speaker at a 2019 fundraiser, while saying he is not a socialist. El-Sayed spokesman Cole Wozniak responded that Rogers has staffed his campaign with people who defended a group chat containing praise for Hitler.
Democratic Left · on DSA-LA's endorsement of Nithya Raman in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff
DSA-LA voted to endorse City Councilor Nithya Raman for Los Angeles mayor in her runoff against incumbent Karen Bass, with the vote crossing the chapter's 60% approval threshold. The chapter also endorsed candidates for the Burbank and West Hollywood city councils, the Inglewood and Centinela Valley school boards, and Angela Gonzales-Torres in her U.S. House runoff. The same roundup reported Chicago DSA is running six candidates — four incumbents and two challengers — in the February 23, 2027 Chicago City Council election.
The Los Angeles Times reported on the chapter's internal debate over the Raman endorsement on August 29.
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 Mercury reported that Go Portland Go, which filed as a political action committee with the state in April and calls itself a "grassroots coalition," has received more than $130,000 in contributions, including $32,000 from the nonprofit Partnership for Progress and $25,000 from Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle. The paper reported that Partnership for Progress mailers have blamed the council's four DSA members — Morillo, Koyama Lane, Green, and Kanal — for what the group characterizes as the city's decline, and that the PAC's endorsement criteria include funding police and reducing taxes. Restaurateur Earl Ninsom withdrew his six restaurants from the group's coalition list on August 28 after the Mercury asked about their participation.
The Portland council general election is November 3, 2026.
Nurse N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas, 31, won the Democratic Senate primary runoff in Oklahoma, defeating attorney and minister Jim Priest, 70, after neither won a majority in the June primary; Priest's campaign spent $315,000 to Thomas's $57,000. Thomas told NBC News she is "a self-proclaimed democratic socialist" but "not yet" a DSA member. She faces Rep. Kevin Hern for the open seat with $456 in her account as of August 5 against Hern's $2.6 million as of June 30.
Trump carried Oklahoma by 34 points in 2024; the seat is open because Sen. Markwayne Mullin became secretary of homeland security.
The Mercury reported that Go Portland Go, which registered as a political action committee with the state in April and lists homelessness and behavioral health among its five priorities, has received more than $130,000 in contributions per state records. Its largest donor is the nonprofit Partnership for Progress, which gave $32,000 in June and has advocated for homeless camp sweeps and treatment-first approaches; Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle gave $25,000 the same month.
Boyle gave $150,000 in 2023 to a group lobbying to dismantle Measure 110.
A fire Wednesday at an abandoned Babcock Avenue property in Studio City, where neighbors reported encampments and years of unanswered complaints, prompted mayoral rivals Karen Bass and Nithya Raman to blame each other for the lot's condition. Raman said her office flagged the property to the mayor's office in November; emails reviewed by the Times show her staff listed it as the second-most urgent of five nuisance properties in her district. Bass said she took action the same day the situation was brought directly to her attention, and city crews cleared and fenced the lot by Friday.
Bass and Raman were the top two vote-getters in the June 2 mayoral primary and met in their first post-primary debate August 19.
Senate nominee Angie Nixon and attorney general candidate Jose Javier Rodriguez called at a joint news conference for Sen. Ashley Moody and Attorney General James Uthmeier to resign, a day after CBS News Miami published contents of a sealed grand jury report finding the DeSantis administration "misappropriated" $10 million diverted into the Hope Florida Foundation. The grand jury wrote that Uthmeier's PAC, Keep Florida Clean, was "the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds" and that Moody, then attorney general, authorized her chief deputy to sign the settlement. Moody wrote on social media that her office "had no knowledge of how funds would be spent"; Uthmeier called the report "a politically motivated witch hunt."
The grand jury report was filed under seal with the Leon County Clerk's Office on January 28; CBS News Miami published its contents August 26.
At the Michigan Democratic Party nominating convention Saturday, Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed told the party's Jewish Caucus he "made a mistake" in a video posted after the Temple Israel attack in West Bloomfield, in which he had noted the assailant's family members were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and said "hurt people hurt people." He said the remark "was not my intention" and "if my statement caused pain, I'm sorry." The attacker drove a vehicle into a synagogue building housing a school and daycare with more than 100 children inside before being shot by security staff.
Rogers and El-Sayed agreed on August 26 to their first debate, hosted by WOOD-TV on October 8.
Los Angeles Times · on the DSA-LA endorsement vote in the Los Angeles mayor's race
DSA's Los Angeles chapter is holding an online vote on whether to endorse City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a DSA member, in her November 3 runoff against Mayor Karen Bass; Raman needs 60% of the vote to secure the endorsement, more than 6,000 chapter members received ballots, and voting closes Tuesday. Chapter members have argued both sides in essays in Geese magazine, with opponents citing her vote to confirm Jim McDonnell as police chief and her push to rewrite Measure ULA.
DSA-LA declined to endorse in the June 2 primary but recommended Raman in its voter guide, which did not include access to the chapter's get-out-the-vote operation.
Denver DSA announced Tuesday it endorsed City Council member Shontel Lewis, who is challenging incumbent Mayor Mike Johnston in the April election. The endorsement gives Lewis access to the chapter's field operation, which knocked more than 100,000 doors and made more than 500,000 phone calls before Melat Kiros's June primary win over Rep. Diana DeGette. Nine other candidates are also running, including 2023 DSA endorsee Lisa Calderón, who said she did not seek the endorsement this cycle.
Lewis first won her District 8 council seat in 2023, also with Denver DSA's endorsement.
CNBC interviewed Colorado's two Democratic House nominees: Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old lawyer and DSA member who defeated Rep. Diana DeGette in the 1st District primary in June, and retired Navy Rear Adm. Eileen Laubacher, running against Rep. Lauren Boebert in the Republican-leaning 4th District. Laubacher had $3.6 million on hand as of June 30 to Boebert's $247,000, per FEC filings; Kiros attributed her win to "anti-incumbent energy" and volunteer canvassing.
DeGette has represented the Denver-based district since 1997; the Cook Political Report rates the 4th District solid Republican.
OPB · on the "Drazan Plan" campaign agenda rollout
Republican gubernatorial nominee Christine Drazan held a press conference at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland on August 25 to elaborate on the "Drazan Plan," her agenda if elected governor. On housing, she promised to streamline permitting and make land more available for building; on homelessness, she said she would track how money is spent and demand measurable results, saying success should be measured "by how many people are actually moving off of our streets that are in recovery, in treatment and moving towards long-term stability." Gov. Tina Kotek's campaign called the plan "simply her latest effort to distract Oregonians from her history of being Donald Trump's stand-in."
It has been more than four decades since Oregonians elected a Republican governor; Drazan and Kotek also faced each other in the 2022 gubernatorial 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.
State Rep. Angie Nixon, a Democratic Socialists of America member, defeated former National Security Council aide Alex Vindman in Florida's August 18 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate special election, 55.7% to 44.3% with 88% of votes counted, per the Associated Press. Vindman, recruited by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, raised more than $16 million to Nixon's roughly $975,000 through July 29 and issued an election-night statement supporting Nixon. Nixon faces Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, who won her primary with nearly 80% of the vote, in the November special election.
The seat is a special election for the final two years of the term Marco Rubio won in 2022; Moody holds it as Gov. DeSantis's appointee.
Elaine Kamarck, Riana Mahtani, and Gabriel Kraemer built a dataset of 282 DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates in the 2026 cycle and reported that more than half sought local or state legislative office, that statewide and congressional candidates won fewer than half of their primaries, and that only 10 DSA-backed candidates won in districts with a Cook PVI of less than D+10. The authors wrote that "from one perspective" the story of DSA candidates' influence "is overblown," given the scarcity of candidates and their success rates, while concluding that the high-profile wins "represent a warning to the rest of the party."
The dataset counts only candidates with a confirmed endorsement from an official DSA chapter — 29 of the 282 carried a national DSA endorsement — and was coded between July 9 and August 12, 2026.
The Oregonian/OregonLive · on an elections complaint against Councilor Mitch Green
Two Portland residents filed a complaint alleging Councilor Mitch Green improperly used public money and staff time to make a video that functions as campaign advertising. The complaint argues the video's campaign-style branding and messaging amounted to political advocacy and self-promotion, and asks the city auditor to investigate whether public resources were used to produce or distribute it.
Green is seeking reelection in District 4 in the November 3, 2026 election.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz won the Democratic primary in Florida's redrawn 25th Congressional District over DSA-endorsed challenger Oliver Larkin, taking more than two-thirds of the vote. Moskowitz said in his victory statement, "I faced a challenge from the DSA. They threw everything at me and I didn't change who I am or what I believe…" Larkin conceded Tuesday night and said he committed to helping Democrats win the seat in November; former Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer won the Republican nomination.
The Cook Political Report rates FL-25 a toss-up; Trump carried the areas that make up the redrawn district by nine points in 2024.
The Los Angeles Times examined the time-limited rental subsidy program Councilmember Nithya Raman has championed in the mayor's race: a city consultant set a goal of 600 households moved into leases by July 1, but housing officials reported only three households had moved in by that date, rising to 54 by August 13. Raman has called for the vouchers, at a city-estimated cost of $30,000, as an alternative to Mayor Karen Bass's Inside Safe program, which costs about $82,000 per person per year according to city reports. LAHSA reported last month that the city's unsheltered population rose 7.9% after two consecutive years of decreases.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson split the Housing and Homelessness Committee in two this month and removed Raman as chair effective September 1.
WW reported that around 1 in 6 members of IBEW Local 48 is out of work and that Portland-area union electricians are moving by the hundreds to Boise, where the Micron fabrication campus expansion pays $65 an hour plus a $200 daily stipend. The article reported that Local 48 gave $400,000 to Gov. Kotek's reelection campaign in June and, with Ironworkers Local 29, rescinded its endorsement of Councilor Mitch Green in early July over his opposition to the $2.5 billion Bull Run filtration project and the proposed $600 million Moda Center remodel. Green retains endorsements from AFSCME and the Portland Association of Teachers.
IBEW Local 48 has around 6,000 members; Local 48 business manager Garth Bachman called Green's opposition a "betrayal of the working class" when the endorsement was rescinded.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz won the Democratic primary in Florida's redrawn 20th District with 50.5% of the vote with 67% counted, over Dale V.C. Holness at 21.1% and self-described democratic socialist Elijah Manley at 12.8%; the AP called the race at 7:24 p.m., minutes after polls closed. Manley had campaigned against her AIPAC support; JTA reported that FEC filings in the race link at least $250,000 to AIPAC.
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.
Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Angie Nixon for U.S. Senate on August 20, two days after her primary win. Sanders said Nixon faced "a candidate funded by the Democratic establishment, and outspent more than 16 to 1," and said she won every one of Florida's major cities.
Axios reported that Nixon won the primary without endorsements from the DSA, Sanders, or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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.
Axios reported that Nixon and Florida Democratic Party chair Nikki Fried had a call Friday that included a yelling match over socialism and campaigning in a red state, citing three people familiar with the conversation. Nixon told Fried she had not received sufficient help from the state party; a person who spoke with Nixon said Fried wants her "to back away from DSA, from socialism." Accounts of the call differ — two people who spoke with Nixon said both yelled, while a person who spoke to Fried said the chair did not yell but was yelled at.
The DSCC issued a statement supporting Nixon on primary night, in a joint release from Sen. Schumer and DSCC chair Gillibrand.
A PolitiFact fact-check carried by WLRN examined Sen. Ashley Moody's claim that Nixon's DSA membership means she supports "Defund the police, don't fund our military, open up the border, noncitizen voting," and found no evidence Nixon has supported defunding police or the military. Nixon said, "I don't support defunding the police. I do support comprehensive criminal justice reform to make sure we are addressing some of the root causes." The check reported that Nixon joined DSA in June 2026.
DSA does not require members to support all of the organization's positions.
Axios reported that although Nixon's win is being cast as a DSA victory, the national organization neither endorsed her nor anticipated the result, and that Nixon joined DSA during her campaign. Axios quoted Nixon saying "I don't campaign as a member of any organization" and "I don't believe in labels," and reported she joined to tap into DSA's grassroots organizational network and supports its positions on housing, public education, corporate power, and Medicare for All.
A Brookings count of the 2026 cycle identified 282 DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates, 29 of them carrying national DSA endorsements.
Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman held a general-election mayoral debate Wednesday night in Sherman Oaks, clashing over homelessness and policing. Raman said Bass has spent $400 million on Inside Safe while refusing audits and cited 8,000 beds she said were not being managed; Bass disputed Raman's per-room cost figures, saying county reimbursements offset them, and said homelessness declined in Raman's district because of Inside Safe.
Gov. Tina Kotek pointed to an 11.3% increase in Oregon housing permits through June 30, as permitting in the rest of the country declined 1.3%, as evidence the state's housing decline is reversing. Willamette Week reported that permitting reached nearly 18,000 units in Kotek's first year, fell to fewer than 15,000 in each of the past two years, and remains below the 36,000-units-a-year target she set in her 2023 inaugural address, a target since lowered to 29,359 units.
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.
Mayor Keith Wilson endorsed Kellie Torres, a longtime Parks Bureau official, for a District 3 council seat, and said he plans to endorse incumbents Steve Novick, Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman for reelection in November. The District 3 incumbents include two Democratic Socialists of America members who have criticized Wilson's shelter expansion push and his support for the Moda Center renovation. Both council factions view the election as a chance to secure a seventh seat on the 12-member body and end its recurring 6-6 stalemates.
The council's January 2026 attempt to elect a council president failed amid repeated 6-6 votes.
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.
Mayor Keith Wilson endorsed Kellie Torres, a longtime Parks Bureau official, for one of three council seats representing District 3, and said he plans to soon endorse the reelection campaigns of Steve Novick in District 3 and District 4 Councilors Olivia Clark and Eric Zimmerman. The Oregonian described the endorsements as backing three incumbents and an outside challenger "who could shift the balance of power"; the three democratic socialist incumbents on the November ballot — Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Mitch Green — were not among them.
Candidate filing for the Nov. 3 ballot closes Aug. 18 for incumbents and Aug. 25 for non-incumbents.
A Fox News poll of 1,006 Michigan registered voters, conducted Aug. 6–10 by Beacon Research and Shaw & Company Research, found Republican Mike Rogers at 51 percent and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed at 47 percent, within the margin of sampling error. The poll found 98 percent of DSA supporters backing El-Sayed, falling to 69 percent among non-DSA Democrats and independents. It also found 54 percent of the electorate concerned El-Sayed's positions are too extreme and 51 percent concerned Rogers is too close to Trump.
Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024 by less than 2 points each time; Biden won it by nearly 3 points in 2020.
A Badger Battleground poll of 500 likely voters conducted Aug. 12–13 found Democrat David Crowley at 48 percent and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany at 44 percent in Wisconsin's governor's race, a 4-point lead within the poll's ±4.4-point margin of error. Among independents, Crowley led 42 percent to 30 percent. The survey followed Crowley's primary win over democratic socialist Francesca Hong.
The Examiner reported that the San Francisco DSA chapter is the group behind Proposition I, which would dedicate the city's transfer tax on property sales of $10 million or more to a House SF Fund — a shift the City Controller put at nearly $120 million a year. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city's police and firefighter unions said the measure would create "an unaccountable slush fund." The chapter's dues-paying membership rose more than 28 percent this year to 1,506, and the national organization said in July it had reached 120,000 members.
The transfer tax had raised $504.6 million by February, about $200 million of which initially went to housing-related programs.
CBS News Minnesota · on Republican response to the Flanagan-Tafoya Senate matchup
CBS reported Minnesota Republicans expressed optimism about the general election after Michele Tafoya's primary win, with conservative Star Tribune columnist Andy Brehm saying, "Finally, Minnesota Republicans nominate winners." Tafoya said she is "not running to answer to party bosses, or to lobbyists or to special interests, or even to a president." In the primary, 211,000 voters cast ballots for Tafoya against 411,000 for Peggy Flanagan.
Minnesota has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006.
Councilors Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, and Angelita Morillo, all up for reelection in November, campaigned together over the weekend with 200 volunteers knocking doors in Districts 3 and 4, and issued a joint statement alongside the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. Willamette Week reported that the progressive bloc, which calls itself Peacock, is seeking one more seat on the 12-member council for a seven-vote majority. Morillo said the Portland Metro Chamber "is going to do everything in their power to prevent us from having seven votes on this City Council."
Portland DSA's 2026 endorsement slate also includes council candidates Tammy Carpenter, Farrah Chaichi, and Nathan Ong Norris.