Political novice Chloe Eudaly delivered Portland's most stunning City Council upset in three decades, knocking off Commissioner Steve Novick in Tuesday's election and ending incumbents' stronghold in re-election races.

Partial returns had Eudaly beating Novick, 53 percent to 45 percent. Eudaly built a lead of about 15,000 votes as of 9:30 p.m., with about 206,000 ballots cast.

Eudaly's victory marks Portland's most surprising upset since barkeep Bud Clark defeated incumbent Mayor Frank Ivancie in 1984. No Portland incumbent had lost re-election since 1992, and Novick's defeat represents a staggering free fall for a politician who breezed into office four years ago as a progressive darling.

Eudaly rose from political obscurity to defeat the politically vulnerable Novick, who wobbled through a first term while alienating voters and downtown power brokers. Eudaly, 46, becomes just the eighth woman elected to the City Council in Portland history - and she'll be the only member of next year's council to live on Portland's eastside.

"I spoke to something that Portlanders obviously want," Eudaly said Tuesday night from her celebration party in Southeast Portland. "I see myself as a step in the right direction as far as more diversity, and true representation, on City Council."

Novick all but conceded the race after the 8 p.m. results, saying Eudaly would fare better with late voters. Novick said that Eudaly ran a spirited, underdog race that resonated and that he couldn't overcome his past political missteps.

"To be honest, it's not really a surprise," Novick said. "I think it's a classic example of, you never get a second chance to make a first impression."

Novick found himself vulnerable after taunting voters to kick him out during the 2014 street-fee debacle. Novick failed to win a majority of votes in the May primary against nine challengers, becoming just the second city commissioner since 1994 forced into a general-election runoff.

Eudaly took second place in the nonpartisan race but finished a staggering 28 percentage points behind Novick.

That early advantage led to anything but a general election cakewalk.

A small bookstore owner, renter, and single mom with a disabled son, Eudaly wove stories of struggle into her campaign while riding a wave of angst over Portland's affordability crisis. She ran to Novick's left, calling for rent control and stronger safeguards for tenants, appealing to the city's creative class.

Despite raising just one-quarter of Novick's campaign money, Eudaly elevated her public profile through a grass-roots campaign that featured a memorable comic-book-style campaign flier and a strong social-media presence.

Novick began rebranding himself through contrition, including de facto apology statements in campaign materials. He tried to distance himself from inflammatory comments against the business community and didn't highlight his signature accomplishment: passage of a 10-cent per-gallon gas tax.

Absent public polling, Novick remained the conventional-wisdom favorite in Portland's only City Council race this fall. But campaign aides sensed the race would be close.

Novick didn't do much to project a position of strength, declining to share details of his private polling.

Eudaly mounted a shoestring campaign targeting Portland's cash-strapped renters. She all but wrote off the West Hills crowd, focusing instead on her inner eastside base and expanding to far eastside voters who spurned Novick in the primary.

Marshall Runkel, Eudaly's campaign manager, credited the victory to a big surge in east Portland, the power of social media and Eudaly's hard work and genuineness as a candidate.

"I think she formed an authentic connection with the city," he said.

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch