Jo Ann Hardesty, an activist and former state representative, and Loretta Smith, a two-term Multnomah County Commissioner, will face each other in a November runoff for a seat on the Portland City Council.

Though a general election lies ahead, Tuesday's primary results already mean a historic change for the city council: The typically white, male council will gain its first female African American member after Hardesty or Smith wins in the fall. The pair also both live in east Portland, an area of the city long underrepresented on the council.

Tuesday's outcome sets up a potentially volatile six-month runoff campaign. Smith faced an investigation last year that found she mishandled county funds and likely mistreated her staff, and Hardesty has not shied from vehemently criticizing decisions made by city councilors and the mayor. Smith has notably tussled with the county chairwoman, Deborah Kafoury, arguing at a public meeting to the point where Kafoury called Smith an expletive. Hardesty and Smith have had a public spat over use of the Wapato Jail.

Yet the pair have energized politically active Portlanders who seek to replace longtime Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who is vacating his seat after 20 years, with a fresh persona unafraid to take a different approach to city governance. Saltzman is perceived as a political moderate with an independent streak. With Smith or Hardesty on board, the council will all but certainly lean further leftward, and a progressive voting block could emerge.

Hardesty reflected on her campaign Tuesday, saying she had knocked on 15,000 doors, adding that "it's been a campaign about the people from the start." Now that the race has entered a runoff, Hardesty said she'll continue to push her message of bringing "regular voices to City Hall."

Portland City Council candidate Jo Ann Hardesty, pictured in Portland on May 15, 2018.

Asked how she plans to face Smith, Hardesty said, "I don't believe any of my opponents can match my record."

Smith was even more pointed in her outlook. "We're going to take this all the way to November and win," she said.

Smith also acknowledged that she's now the race's underdog, having slipped from presumptive front-runner early in campaign season.

"We've been here before. We were here before in 2010, down 18 points," Smith said, referring to her distant second-place finish in the primary stage of her initial run for Multnomah Commission. "Nobody has ever come back from an 18 percentage point lead but Loretta Smith."

Portland City Council candidate Loretta Smith, pictured in Portland on May 15, 2018.

In partial returns Tuesday, Hardesty won 41 percent of the vote to Smith's 23 percent. They bested mayoral aide Andrea Valderrama, architect Stuart Emmons, neighborhood leader Felicia Williams and perennial candidate Lew Humble.

Smith, 53, and Hardesty, 60, have made finding solutions to Portland's homelessness and affordable housing problems the centerpieces of their campaigns -- and offer remarkably similar platforms on the issue. Both say the council should work to build more affordable housing and protect tenants from rising rents and discrimination. Both say the city should expand and improve its programs for the homeless.

Where they differ most notably is on use of the never-opened Wapato Jail. Smith supports turning the north Portland facility into a shelter while Hardesty, who does not, has called supporters of that plan "idiots," a comment that sparked criticism from Smith. Hardesty has mostly campaign for the city's homeless to be shielded from the criminal justice system and have greater access to health care.

Hardesty, a former U.S. Navy enlistee and three-term state lawmaker who most recently worked as director of the Portland NAACP chapter, has also campaigned for reforms to the Portland Police Bureau. Citing what she views problems with bureau policies on officers' use of deadly force and treatment of the mentally ill, Hardesty has called for greater community oversight of the police, reassigning officers stationed at schools and on the gang enforcement team to patrol beats and more de-escalation training.

Smith, who for two decades worked as a staffer for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden before being elected to the county commission, has named as priorities expanding economic equity and a better transportation network. She has publicly supported plans to expand Interstate 5 in the Rose Quarter, called for funding road improvements in east Portland and backed efforts to create a low-income public transit fare. Smith has also supported job training efforts, greater funding for parks and sidewalks improvements in east Portland, and committed to creating an "East Portland caucus" if elected.

The general election is November 6.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

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