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Rachel Clark, the publican and daughter of late Portland Mayor Bud Clark, is strongly considering a run for the Portland City Council this year, according to two sources familiar with her plans.
Clark has for more than three decades run the Goose Hollow Inn, a beloved pub in Southwest Portland that her father opened in 1967 and operated before serving as mayor of Portland from 1985 to 1992. Bud Clark famously won his bid for mayor as a political outsider with little institutional support and is now regarded as one of the most colorful and emblematic elected officials in recent city history.
Rachel Clark also manages Fehrenbacher Hof, the coffee shop next to the Goose Hollow Inn, long favored by retired politicos and Lincoln High School students.
When reached by phone, Clark declined to comment whether she’s decided to run or not.
Though Clark’s business is on the westside, she lives in Northeast Portland and, if she chooses to run, would vie for one of the three available seats in District 3, which includes Southeast Portland and some Northeast neighborhoods west of Interstate 205. If she runs, the 56-year-old Clark will has a recognizable family name—and a three-decade record of small-business management—in an election cycle when many candidates are unfamiliar to voters.
While Clark mulls a run for the 12-member council, a handful of other notable Portlanders have made their bids official by filing recently with the city’s Small Donor Elections program.
Eric Zimmerman, chief of staff to Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, is running, as are Tiffani Penson, the manager of people and culture at the city of Portland, and Bob Weinstein, a former four-term mayor for the city of Ketchikan, Alaska, who’s become an outspoken moderate in Portland political circles.
Find the full list of City Council candidates—so far—here.