And then there were four.
Voters will have one less candidate to vote on in the March 9 special election to replace ousted Mayor Dan Holladay — though, technically, Phil Heppner’s name will still be on the ballot because his decision to bow out of the race came days after the withdrawal deadline.
For the remaining four hopefuls, the committee that spearheaded the successful effort to remove Holladay is organizing a candidate forum next month. The event will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 via Zoom (meeting details below).
The remaining candidates are (in no particular order) Damon Mabee, Rachel Lyles Smith, Phil Heppner, Alex Josephy and Leslie Wright Jr.
Mabee ran unsuccessfully against Holladay in 2018, where he claimed 35.77% of the vote in a three-candidate field — despite missing the deadline to be in the voters’ pamphlet. In his announcement, Mabee said he felt like he would be a hypocrite if he ran against Holladay before but did not step up now.
Lyles Smith is the only current city commission member to throw her hat into the ring for higher office. She had previously served as commission president and interim mayor, but currently both times are being filled by fellow Commissioner Rocky Smith.
The youngest candidate, Josephy has been involved in state and national politics since 2015. He has previously worked on the presidential campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang, and served two years as secretary of the Democratic Party of Oregon.
Wright is a successful business owner of numerous janitorial companies, including Nationwide Building Maintenance & Association, author of Janitorial: A Poor Man’s Business, but a Rich Man’s Money and an eight-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.
For more information on the candidates, see the special election voters’ pamphlet:
Click to access VP-03-2021.pdf
The last day to register to vote in the special election is Feb. 16. Ballots will go out the following day.
Zoom Credentials: Candidate Forum
Topic: Mayoral Candidate Forum
Time: Feb 11, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
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https://willametteuniversity.zoom.us/j/94094128545
Meeting ID: 940 9412 8545
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