What’s next for Portland’s commitment to racial justice after an unsuccessful Raiford write-in campaign
Who is Teressa Raiford?
Ted “Tear Gas” Wheeler or Sarah “PhDc” Ianarrone? After the May primary, which included then-candidate Teressa Raiford, options for Portland mayor weren't looking good to many, prompting a write-in campaign for Raiford in November. The inspiring youth-led write-in campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, but the possibility of a more racially equal future still shines.
Portland protesters wearing goggles and respirators for tear gas. Reuters, July 2020.
Raiford is a Black fourth-generation Portland resident, grandmother, founder of Don’t Shoot PDX, and notable activist for police accountability and racial justice. She received just 8% of the primary vote in May. But that was before Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd on May 25.
Portland’s Floyd Protests
The Portland protests against racism started on May 28, 2020. In just two days, Mayor Ted Wheeler called the protests “disgusting” on Twitter. A July 18 Portland State University study found that protestors had been tear gassed, under orders from Wheeler, 96 times in just 51 days.
Frustrated with Wheeler’s repeated gassing of peaceful protestors, local cook August Winningham decided to help the cause, giving bottles of ‘Tear Gas Ted’s Hot Sauce’ to anyone who donated $10 to Don’t Shoot PDX. In an interview with Eater Portland, Winningham said, “Founder Teressa Raiford has been putting in the real boots-on-the-ground work for so long, and she’s going to be on the ground for a long time.”
Winningham wasn’t alone in his support of Teressa Raiford. Thousands of teens were about to pedestal Raiford as the ideal mayor.
The Write-In Raiford Campaign
Sensing a resurgence of support for a reimagined police force, Raiford’s supporters, many of them under 18, ignited a massive write-in campaign.
In an interview over the phone, Raiford said she didn't start the write-in. “When the primaries were over, some of my supporters just said, ‘We’re going to write you in [for mayor]’. I supported it, because I want the youth to try something they believe in,” said Raiford.
Her supporters not only believed in her, but didn't see any other option, said Raiford's youth director Danny Cage.
Cage added, “I didn't feel that I could morally campaign for any other candidate, and I wanted someone who knew what they were doing.”
The Raiford campaign had massive youth volunteer support, mostly from Grant and Franklin High Schools, according to Cage.
“My campaign was my treasurer and a couple different people, but also a hundred or so volunteers,” said Raiford.
In an anonymous CatlinSpeak Google Form survey to Raiford supporters, the top three reasons to write in Raiford were housing policy, gun policy, and police policy. One survey respondent wrote, “Raiford has been a consistently helpful and vocal presence at protests I’ve attended, and has a decade of experience in community organizing, which makes her the best suited to make decisions that impact our city.”
Many of these protests took place during the campaign, which was part of the reason Raiford wasn’t campaigning.
“I was really busy this summer, because I was responding to a lot of things happening with Don’t Shoot Portland,” she adds.
Despite Raiford’s lack of campaign activity, teens from across the Portland metro area pushed for her.
For example, CGS senior Catie Macauley, 17, strongly supported Raiford. “She’s the only one who has any concept of the trauma our state has inflicted on the Black community for centuries. Ted actively demonized the Black community with his actions on protests, and Sarah had no concrete plans on racial justice. Teressa was the clear way forward.”
The campaign gained momentum, as it was featured in Willamette Week, the Oregonian, the Washington Post, and dozens of other local news outlets. She even received an endorsement from Portland Trailblazers star Damien Lillard. On Oct. 14, local news outlet Street Roots published an article on her housing policy, saying, “This is the first time we’ve included a write-in candidate in our election issue, but we believe the circumstances around Teressa Raiford’s campaign warrant her inclusion.”
An aspect of the Raiford campaign that befuddled Portlanders was the lack of activity by Raiford herself. In an interview with Portland Mercury, she said, “I was done, I was exhausted. When the folks with the write-in campaign first came to me, I said ‘What, no, I definitely don’t want to put myself or my family through that again!’”
The Election
For many home viewers, the mayoral election came and went, overshadowed by the presidential toss-ups in Nevada and Michigan. Multnomah County doesn’t publicize the amount of votes received by write-in candidates unless they win. But on Election Night, 13% of mayoral votes were write-ins, approximately 56,000. Ted Wheeler received 46.20% of the vote, winning over Iannarone’s 40.77%.
We’re still “outgrowing the old system,” said Danny Cage. “We have to be radical to break the system. We see that system with the electoral college, and voter suppression.”
A Nov. 4 Raiford campaign statement claimed no fault in taking votes away from Sarah, declaring the “write-in engaged and inspired voters, largely youth voters and disenfranchised voters so there is no one to blame for a lackluster result except two lackluster candidates.”
Cage added something similar. “We can’t take votes from someone who didn't have them. A lot of the people who wrote in Raiford weren’t going to vote at all.”
Catlin Gabel School alum Maya Rayle ‘19 was one of those young voters, as she proudly wrote in Raiford. “The circumstances had changed a lot since the primaries,” she said, referring to the summer’s protests. “Teressa had promise.”
Her brother, Kai Rayle ‘20, was unimpressed. “Write-ins don’t really work. Teressa didn't get a lot of primary votes, so these write-ins split the Sarah vote.”
Longtime local Black activist Anon said, “The write-in campaign was taken too seriously. Raiford was not just seen as a candidate for mayor, but the candidate for mayor.”
While Raiford’s supporters were passionate, she had inadequate connection with her detailed plans and the Black community as a whole.
For example, on Oct. 5, Raiford and fellow police accountability activist Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty exchanged insults, publicly criticizing each other’s style and vision of police accountability. Hardesty is a prominent local Black leader, and the dispute was hard on Raiford's popularity.
Hardesty in a city council session on police oversight measure 26-217. Kaylee Domzalski, Oct 2020.
Raiford also failed to garner support of much of the local Black community, only naming Lilliard, congressional candidate Albert Lee, Kee’s Loaded Kitchen, and The Kiki House of Flora as official endorsers.
Against tough odds, many Raiford supporters continued to push. Macaulay defends against critics of the write-in.
“The argument that write-ins take away from the lesser evil candidate inherently demonizes a hope for a better future. Anyone who blames Teressa voters for Ted’s victory completely missed the point that racist Wheeler supporters are the ones to blame,” said Macaulay. “If we keep settling for candidates, we’re going to keep being given candidates we’re settling for. Think AOC: nobody thought she’d make it, and she carried her election not in spite of, but because of her progressive and community-oriented views. There is no reason the same thing can’t happen here in our city.”
Looking Forward
Raiford remains hopeful that “people stay engaged, so we can hold the people that are elected accountable, because we have the most diverse city council [of commissioners] that Portland has ever seen.”
Although the mayor is in charge of the police chief and its force, a commissioner is generally just as important as a mayor. Portland is America’s only commissioner system in a city of over 600,000. In a commissioner system, the mayor works alongside four commissioners and an auditor, all of which hold relatively equal power.
“This makes the government very cumbersome and makes it difficult to institute any dramatic reforms because just a little bit of opposition is enough to table any proposal,” observed CGS senior William Johnston.
Despite this system, a community police oversight bill made it to the November ballot as measure 26-17, where it was approved by 82% of Portlanders. The measure, spearheaded by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, will dissolve the Independent Police Review, which was “stymied by city and state policies,” according to Willamette Week.
Another commissioner to watch has just been elected: Mingus Mapps is the third Black man to serve on Portland’s city council. “I think Mingus will protect my grandchildren who look like his kids,” Raiford noted hopefully.
Danny Cage spoke similarly. “[I hope] the commissioners use their diverse experiences to cast good policies. I think we’re slowly working towards a better future for Multnomah County.” He added with a chuckle, “Write-in campaigns have been increasing since the 80s.”
But Cage was serious. 2012 saw five times as many presidential write-ins (from 0.02% to 0.11% of total votes) as 1984, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
Maya Rayle is excited about this outsider trend. “I hope finance is not as big of a determinant as to who can run a successful campaign in Portland.”
Wall of Moms founder Bev Barnum, who was under fire last summer for redirecting the movement against the feds rather than for Black lives, told CatlinSpeak, “I’m sorry. I wish I had educated myself more prior to July 18. I didn’t know what I was walking into. I wanted to protect the protestors.”
Barnum, who is Mexican-American, hopes for Black history education and tangible reparations. “Teachers across America need to be putting this information [of Black history] in kids' faces.” Barnum hopes that with education, non-Black people can be more anti-racist. She also said that with reparations, “We can help rectify racial inequities. Black Americans need tangible assets.”
Anon agrees, touching on concepts such as reparations, reimagined police, and affordable housing. “It’s way overdue for allies to do this work in a way that is long term invested in Black communities.”
Links for involvement and further reading:
Resource list: blacklivesmatters.carrd.co
Ta-Nehesi Coates’ article: The Case for Reparations
Write In Teressa Raiford former campaign site