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Olivia Clark, Mitch Green and Eric Zimmerman have taken an early lead for the three seats representing District 4 on the Portland City Council, according to the first round of ballots counted on election night.
These results are nowhere near final because of ranked-choice voting, meaning leading candidates are subject to change. Multnomah County will release reports once daily that will tally all counted ballots and reassign votes until three candidates reach the 25%-plus-1-vote threshold needed to get elected. Tonight’s report includes only 45,044 ballots, 37.6% of District 4′s 119,868 registered voters. The district represents West Portland and a sliver of Southeast Portland.
Clark and Zimmerman are both moderates, while Green is a staunch progressive. Clark, 70, is a longtime bureaucrat who spent more than 20 years with TriMet in government and public affairs. Before that, she worked under Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Green is a progressive endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. He’s an energy economist formerly with the Bonneville Power Administration and is interested in preparing the power grid for climate change. Green, 42, is also an Army veteran and a community college professor.
Zimmerman, 40, is currently chief of staff to County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards. Before that, he was a senior adviser in Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office. He’s also an Army veteran, having served as a platoon leader in western Iraq.
According to the report, candidates eliminated in the final rounds include Eli Arnold, Chad Lykins and Bob Weinstein.
Arnold, a downtown bike cop, is within striking distance of Zimmerman and Green, but Clark is in her own league.
The next county report will be released Wednesday at 6 pm. By Thursday evening, it’s likely that more than 80% of the ballots cast will have been counted and tabulated, giving a more secure sense of who the top three candidates in each district will be.