Hardesty Campaign Implies Her Two Top Challengers Are “Anti-Choice,” Then Retracts Claim

In a press release sent out the morning of May 3, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s reelection campaign implied without evidence that her two most viable challengers and one of her colleagues on the Portland City Council were “anti-choice.”

The implication came in the hours following a Politico article that reported on a leak from the U.S. Supreme Court, signaling that the body may soon overturn Roe v. Wade this summer, the ruling that has ensured Americans the right to abortion for 50 years.

The Hardesty campaign email said, in part: “What’s on the line in this election is a Portland City Council that is potentially just 1 vote away from having an anti-choice majority if former NARAL board member Commissioner Hardesty is replaced by another man.”

It added: “It’s important to note that one member of Council has already turned their backs on the pro-choice movement. He called these actions performative and not an urgent matter. That same council member recently endorsed one of our opponents.”

That’s a reference to a vote by Commissioner Mingus Mapps last fall following the Texas abortion ban. Mapps opposed Portland city government allocating $200,000 to local abortion providers in anticipation of Texas women coming to Oregon to access abortion care. Mapps was the only “no” vote on the council. At the time, Mapps told WW that the council should focus on local crises faced by the city, including homelessness and record gun violence.

In WW’s endorsement interview two weeks ago for the seat that Hardesty currently holds, both of Hardesty’s most viable challengers—Vadim Mozyrsky and Rene Gonzalez—said without hesitation that they support the right to abortion.

Today’s email had the campaign logo on it, but was signed by Christel Allen, executive director of Pro-Choice Oregon, an organization that’s endorsed Hardesty.

After WW asked Allen and the Hardesty campaign to substantiate with evidence that her opponents and Mapps were opposed to abortion rights, Hardesty’s campaign manager, the Rev. Joseph Santos-Lyons, sent out an email apologizing for the paragraph that said the council was one vote away from having an anti-choice majority.

“This is incorrect and should have been omitted. We have apologized to Ms. Allen and issued a correction earlier on our website to our supporters. We regret the error,” he wrote.

Santos-Lyons clarified tonight to WW that the statement is a retraction of the allegation that her opponents and colleague are anti-choice.

Earlier today, Santos-Lyons told WW that the campaign wrote most of the email.

WW spoke with Allen about the email earlier today. She said it had been primarily written by the campaign and that she had given the campaign license to use her name.

However, Allen defended the characterization of Mapps as anti-choice and cast doubts on the strength of Gonzalez and Mozyrsky’s support of abortion rights. Her comments were sometimes contradictory.

“Rights are inconsequential if people don’t have access. That’s what it means to be pro-choice today,” Allen said. “I will not be attributed to having said that someone claimed that they’re personally anti-choice. I’m not saying that to you. I’m saying what I think happened in City Hall was significant, and that voters should know exactly what those actions are.”

The Hardesty campaign’s email comes as she is locked in a bitter May reelection fight with two centrist challengers. When asked for evidence that any of the three were anti-choice, the campaign did not produce any, other than referring WW to Mapps’ comments regarding the September vote.

“I believe we live in an era where being silently pro-choice, or only revealing when asked, is not enough for the political leadership we need to preserve and support the full range of reproductive health care rights,” said Santos-Lyons earlier today.

No one is disputing that Hardesty has been an outspoken champion for abortion rights—far more so than her opponents. But the allegation that her opponents are anti-choice is a serious one.

Mozyrsky sent a statement to WW affirming his pro-choice stance this afternoon. “I am outraged that my opponent took this opportunity to spread falsehoods about my long-standing beliefs on this important matter for political gain,” Mozyrsky said.

This morning, Gonzalez tweeted his support for abortion rights.

In response to the campaign email, Mapps tells WW, “I do feel like these types of emails undermine the gravity of the moment.”