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On Aug. 14, Portland’s City Elections Office received a filing for a new candidate, a prerequisite for appearing on the November 2024 ballot for one of the 12 new Portland City Council seats.
Nearly 100 candidates have filed to run, but the name listed on the Aug. 14 filing was eye-catching: Devon Horace, former president of the nonprofit Alberta Main Street.
It’s noteworthy because earlier this year, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office charged Horace with theft and falsifying business records related to his role at Alberta Main Street. The case is ongoing.
Even odder: Horace says he’s not a candidate.
“I will not be running for City Council and wish all the candidates running the best,” Horace wrote in a Sept. 4 email to WW. He declined to comment further on the candidate filing, and declined to say whether or not he had submitted it.
Scroggin says that the Elections Office decided to reject Horace’s filing today. That means that, before today, Horace was set to appear on the November ballot. The Elections Office will send the final list of candidates to the Multnomah County Elections Division, which composes the ballot, by end of day Thursday.
“Devon Horace contacted the Elections Division with his intent to withdraw today,” Scroggin said in an email. “Given this and admissions made in his pending criminal court case about his residency, we will not be including his name on the ballot and rejecting his filing.”
A Multnomah County grand jury indicted Horace on 16 felony and misdemeanor charges of theft and falsifying business records. Over the course of a year and a half, a probable cause affidavit says, Horace withdrew more than $100,000 from the nonprofit’s bank account, comprising donations solicited by Horace from Nike and the Portland Trail Blazers. The affidavit says that Horace then falsified bank records to “conceal his actions.”
Horace, 32, pleaded not guilty to all charges. A trial date has not yet been set.
The Oregonian first reported the charges filed against Horace in April.
According to the candidate filing, Horace filed in August to run in District 2, which covers North and Northeast Portland. The filing lists Horace’s occupation as an “investor” and lists Horace’s prior employers as Nike and the Trail Blazers.
Another candidate in District 2 is eye care clinic owner James Armstrong, who records show testified as a witness in front of the grand jury that indicted Horace. Armstrong confirmed that he testified but declined to provide more information about the nature of his testimony. Armstrong served as the board chair of Alberta Main Street from 2014 to 2019, then came back on to help navigate the organization after Horace resigned in 2023.
Armstrong is trained as a forensic accountant, the probable cause affidavit says, and he helped uncover Horace’s alleged misconduct.