Susheela Jayapal was sworn in Thursday as a Multnomah County commissioner, making her the first Indian American to hold an elected county office in Oregon.

Jayapal, who left India at 16 to attend college in the U.S., had 7 ½ months to prepare to take office, after handily winning a four-way race for the open seat back in May.

A longtime leader of nonprofit and community groups, Jayapal told the large crowd at the ceremony that she never planned to run for office but felt a “sense of urgency about the fact that the region has become unlivable for too many people.”

“Our economy has been booming, and we all know the adage that says ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” she said. “And you all know very well that’s simply not true.”

“For too many in our region, they are drowning in that rising tide, or being pushed farther and farther from shore or, at best, just barely treading water. And those folks who are sinking are being pushed out or just barely keeping afloat, they are disproportionately black or brown, immigrant and refugee. That’s not the kind of place I want to live in."

Jayapal, who represents North and Northeast Portland, ran on a platform that emphasized combatting gentrification and homelessness, in part by providing rental assistance to help keep people in their homes. She also called for more focus on mental health and addiction treatment and for restorative justice programs in every school.

“I ran for office because I believe you don’t do this unless you believe in government. I ran for office because I believe that we can together find solutions — by taking down barriers between our systems and by focusing on root causes,” she said.

Jayapal, who relied on advice from her younger sister, Pramila Jayapal, who represents the Seattle area in Congress, secured the most endorsements and raised the most in contributions before securing almost 60 percent of the vote.

The two Jayapal sisters and India Abroad, a news site covering the Indian American community, all heralded Susheela Jayapal’s election as the first win for an Indian American seeking public office in Oregon. So did Multnomah County’s communications department. This article initially made the same claim.

But that distinction in fact belongs to Balwant Bhullar, who won a seat on the Fairview City Council in 2008, county officials said Thursday afternoon. He served about six months before stepping down for health reasons. He won election to the council again in 2018 and took office this week.

Jayapal won the seat previously held by Loretta Smith, who was required to step down after two terms. With her election, the county commission remains all-female and the most diverse in the state, with a Mexican American member, Jessica Vega Pederson, and a Korean-born one, Lori Stegmann, as well as Jayapal.

The commission’s chairwoman, Deborah Kafoury, was also sworn in Thursday, in her case to a second term, as was the county’s sheriff, Mike Reese. Newly-elected Multnomah County Auditor Jennifer McGuirk also was ceremonially inducted into office.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller presided at the ceremonies.

-- Beth Nakamura and Betsy Hammond

bnakamura@oregonian.com

betsyhammond@oregonian.com

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