The November election is just five weeks away, and over 140 candidates are running for local elected office. Up for grabs: 12 available seats on the Portland City Council, two available seats on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, and the Portland mayor’s office.

As WW has previously reported, because there’s such a glut of candidates this cycle, voters are increasingly looking toward endorsements and campaign materials to determine who to vote for.

That means special interest groups, which have the ability to influence an election by both spending money and issuing endorsements, are swarming—especially because special interest groups aren’t beholden to the local campaign finance rules that greatly limit how much money a candidate can raise.

So political action committees are making endorsements and will soon start spending money on mailers and ads for their candidates of choice. Each of those group’s members have something to lose—or gain—in this year’s one-of-a-kind unwieldy election that will determine the direction of the city and county for the next four years.

Here are seven local interest groups and—as best as we can parse it—their desires.

United for Portland Action Fund/Coalition for Portland’s Future

Money raised so far this year by their PAC: $400,086

What do they want? To elect moderate City Council candidates that are business-friendly. (Much of this money was raised and spent in the May primary in support of moderate candidates running for the Multnomah County Board.)

Who are they backing? The group issued their endorsements on Oct 8. The candidates include Eric Zimmerman and Olivia Clark in District 4; Elana Pirtle-Guiney and City Commissioner Dan Ryan in District 2; Terrence Hayes and Loretta Smith in District 1; and Rex Burkholder and Jesse Cornett in District 3.

Who are they? The Portland Metro Chamber, the city’s chamber of commerce still known to its many haters as the Portland Business Alliance, set up this PAC.

Average member: A midlevel Nike executive.

Portland for All

Money raised so far this year: $37,000

What do they want? To elect left-leaning candidates to the City Council.

Who are they backing? Candidates endorsed by the group include Candace Avalos, Steph Routh, Chad Lykins, Mitch Green and Angelita Morillo.

Who are they? A group of progressive politicos with close ties to the nonprofit world, mostly. Contributors to the PAC so far include a number of now-irrelevant PACs of former elected officials and candidates for office, including former Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, former Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal (who lost to Maxine Dexter in the primary for Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District), and Robin Ye, who dropped out of the City Council race this summer.

Average member: A person trying to decide whether to take TriMet or bike to the Timbers game.

Working for a Better Portland

Money raised so far this year: $30,000

What do they want? To elect labor union-friendly candidates to the City Council

Who are they backing? The Northwest Oregon Labor Council, which is spearheading this PAC, endorsed candidates in June. In something of a surprise, there’s considerable crossover between their chosen candidates and those endorsed by United for Portland, including moderates Eric Zimmerman and Olivia Clark in District 4.

Who are they? A collection of public employee unions, including the Portland Fire Fighters’ Association, LiUNA Local 737, SEIU and AFSCME.

Average member: A city employee working from home in a bathrobe.

HOME PAC

Money raised so far this year: $14,050

What do they want? To elect candidates who are focused on building more affordable housing.

Who are they backing? They’ve endorsed both left-of-center and moderate candidates across all four districts. The group picked Carmen Rubio as its mayoral choice.

Who are they? The bulk of their contributions have come from the PAC’s director, Diane Linn. Linn served as Multnomah County Chair from 2003 to 2006 and has since run various nonprofits.

Average member: Recovering progressives.

Friends of Rene

Money raised so far this year: $249,350

What do they want? Rene Gonzalez to be elected mayor.

Who are they backing? Gonzalez, natch. (His rivals, Carmen Rubio and Keith Wilson, were also expected to get independent backing, but so far only Gonzalez’s backers have revealed any funding.)

Who are they? Mostly downtown developers, including the Goodman family and Jordan Schnitzer, and prominent business leaders, including the co-founder and managing director of Endeavour Capital, John Von Schlegell.

Average member: A downtown suit worried about their real estate holdings.

Don’t Rank Rene

Money raised so far this year: $1,310

What do they want? To convince voters not to rank mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez on their ranked choice ballots.

Who are they backing? No one. They just don’t want Gonzalez to be the next mayor.

Who are they? The treasurer of the PAC is Stephen Gomez, who sits on the board of Street Roots, a nonprofit newspaper.

Average member: A Lewis & Clark adjunct professor.

Our Portland PAC

Money raised so far this year: $0

What do they want? To elect progressives to the Multnomah County board and the Portland City Council.

Who are they backing? Meghan Moyer and Shannon Singleton for the two open Multnomah County seats. It’s not yet clear if the group will endorse candidates in the City Council races.

Who are they? The PAC was formed by supporters of former mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone, who lost her election bid against Mayor Ted Wheeler in 2020. Iannarone is a fiery alternative transportation advocate who had plans to run a City Council candidate training program last summer which did not pan out. (After the publication of this article, Iannarone pointed out that she did put on a one-day candidate training in October 2023.)

Average member: Sarah Iannarone.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Gonzalez’s IE was called Rene for Portland. That’s incorrect; the IE is called Friends of Rene. WW regrets the error.