Mayor Wheeler Is Running for Re-election in 2020

Alex Zielinski

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It's official: Mayor Ted Wheeler will be running for re-election in the May 2020 primary election.

"For the last four years, I’ve realized a dream of serving this wonderful community in the state and the city that has always been my home. My heart, my focus, the issues that are the most important to me–they’re all right here," wrote Wheeler in a statement published on his campaign website. "We’re strongest when we work together as one vibrant, powerful, engaged community. So I’m here, and I’m ready to keep going for these next four years."

According to Amy Rathfelder, Wheeler's deputy campaign manager, he will formally kick off his campaign on Monday, October 14, at an evening event in Southeast Portland. The public event will be attended by several local leaders who support Wheeler's run, including City Commissioner Nick Fish, State Representative Janelle Bynum, Metro Council President Lynn Peterson, and Portland Business Alliance CEO Andrew Hoan.

If re-elected, Wheeler would be the first Portland mayor to serve a second term in 16 years.

In his statement, Wheeler lists several accomplishments he's made since entering office in 2017, like putting "strong, capable women in senior leadership positions," creating a new kind of unarmed police employee position, limiting plastic straws and utensils in restaurants, and spearheading trash clean-up programs.

One of his "proudest moments," Wheeler notes, is when he organized a large group of community leaders to speak out against white supremacy days before the Proud Boys, an alt-right extremist group, held a rally in downtown Portland.

"This is the kind of strength we can show when we join together and stand up for our values," he writes.

Wheeler, who first hinted at his decision to run in 2020 in a May interview with the Portland Tribune, currently has just over $110,000 in his campaign war chest. According to the Secretary of State's campaign finance records, Wheeler's campaign hasn't received a donation since August.

Wheeler already has several opponents in the race, including police accountability advocate Teressa Raiford, progressive urban policy advocate Sarah Iannarone (who ran against Wheeler in 2016), environmental scientist Ozzie González, environmental lawyer Michael Burleson, and community activist Mark White.

Wheeler is currently in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he's attending the 2019 C40 World Mayors Summit.