Progressives Meghan Moyer, Shannon Singleton pulling ahead to capture open seats on Multnomah County Board of Commissioners

Meghan Moyer bested Vadim Mozyrsky to win a spot on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, while fellow progressive Shannon Singleton pulled ahead in the race for the board's second open seat.

The winners of the two races will join current Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards and Gresham City Councilor Vince Jones-Dixon, who both earned seats in May, on the board Jan. 1. The new makeup of the commission could shift the direction of policy and politics in the county.

As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, Moyer had captured 57% of the vote in the race to represent District 1 on Portland's westside, compared to Mozyrsky's 42%. Moyer will succeed Commissioner Sharon Meieran, the board's fiercest critic of county Chair Jessica Vega Pederson. But county officials estimate as many as 46% of countywide ballots may be left to be tallied.

In the divisive race for District 2, which encompasses North and Northeast Portland, Singleton had secured 53% of the vote to Adams' 46%. The winner will replace Commissioner Jesse Beason, who was appointed last year to succeed Susheela Jayapal after she left to run for Congress.

Live Results Page | Election Live Updates

The election comes as the county faces significant challenges, including an unstable partnership with Portland to curtail homelessness, a rocky beginning to its deflection program offering people caught with hard drugs an alternative to jail and a lack of drug treatment beds and behavioral health care.

Both races pitted more progressive candidates against more moderate candidates who pitched different solutions to the county's persistent problems.

Adams, the controversial former mayor of Portland and a longtime City Hall power broker, said he supports arresting homeless people who violate the city's camping restrictions and refuse offers of shelter, an approach he dubbed "relentless compassion." Singleton, by contrast, said arresting homeless people will not address the root cause of the problem.

Singleton served for eight months as the head of the city-county funded Joint Office of Homeless Services in 2022. She wants the county to increase the number of outreach workers it employs, expand shelter bed access and work with the state to bolster behavioral health resources. Adams said he wants the county, city and Portland's housing authority Home Forward to consolidate their approach to solving homelessness under one "homelessness czar."

Mozyrsky and Moyer conveyed similar divides.

Mozyrsky, an administrative law judge who unsuccessfully ran for Portland City Council two years ago, supports jailing homeless campers who violate camping restrictions and refuse offers of shelter. He has also called for cutting county taxes across the board and a "forensic audit" of the Joint Office of Homeless Services.

In contrast, Moyer, the policy director at Disability Rights Oregon, said she would only support jailing people experiencing homelessness in a few specific circumstances, would look for more modest tax cuts for middle class families and prioritize increasing access to long-term intensive care programs for people struggling with substance use disorder.

Moyer, Adams and Mozyrsky all expressed support for getting rid of an executive power that has allowed Vega Pederson as chair to unilaterally determine what goes on the board's agenda.

Campaign finance records show Moyer had raised $48,000 as of Tuesday, far less than her opponent, but she's secured endorsements from several large public employee unions, including SEIU Local 503 and 49 and AFSCME Local 88. She also received support from several state legislators, former Gov. Kate Brown and Deborah Kafoury, the former county chair.

Mozyrsky raised $174,000, including $40,000 he's loaned himself, campaign finance records show. He received backing from law enforcement and private sector unions, neighborhood associations, District Attorney-elect Nathan Vasquez and Portland mayoral candidates Keith Wilson, Mingus Mapps and Rene Gonzalez, among others. Meieran also endorsed Mozyrsky as her successor.

Singleton had raised $50,000 as of Tuesday and amassed support from several public employee unions, including SEIU Local 49 and 503 and AFSCME Local 88, which represent many of the county's employees. Former Gov. Kate Brown also endorsed her.

Adams secured the backing of business organizations, private sector, law enforcement and firefighter unions and a handful of former county commissioners. He had raised over $207,000 as of Tuesday. Business coalition United for Portland poured tens of thousands of dollars into supporting Adams and attacking his opponent.