2026 Portland Local Voter Guide
Portland is electing three city councilors this year, and we surveyed every candidate about where they stand on housing and transportation.
The Urbanist Coalition is proud to endorse Anna Bullett for District 4 City Council and Joey Brunelle for City Council At Large.
We made a holistic assessment of the candidates based on their responses to our survey, other surveys, their campaign websites, and their record of policymaking and advocacy on housing and transportation issues. Our candidate scorecard and our impressions of each candidate are below.
City Council, District 4
| Candidate | Housing | Transportation | City Projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna BullettEndorsed | Champion | Good | Good |
| Jacob Viola | Good | Good | Good |
Anna BullettEndorsed
Councilor Anna Bullett has a strong track record of championing housing and pedestrian safety. She supported all four of our LD2003 amendments, a strong ReCode, and Vision Zero. There are homes being built today that would not have been without her votes. Her responses reflected these commitments. We are proud to endorse Anna Bullett for re-election and look forward to working with her in the future.
Jacob Viola
Jake Viola’s responses to our survey were strong. We particularly appreciated his focus on making it more affordable and easier to build more homes through his support for significant changes to Portland’s inclusionary zoning and streamlining building approvals. He is also supportive of pedestrian safety and important city projects. We like both his and Councilor Bullett’s responses to our survey but we are choosing to endorse Councilor Bullett based on her demonstrated track record.
City Council, At Large
| Candidate | Housing | Transportation | City Projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joey BrunelleEndorsed | Champion | Good | Champion |
| Kate Snyder | Good | Champion | Good |
| Atiim Boykin | Mixed | Good | Mixed |
Joey BrunelleEndorsed
Joey Brunelle is a champion of housing and transportation, our core issues. Joey has a history of determined advocacy in city affairs and closely follows city projects. We are also excited that he is a member of the Coalition and is familiar with our work. We are proud to endorse Joey Brunelle for City Council at Large.
Kate Snyder
We appreciate Kate Snyder’s support for building more homes and reducing the costs imposed by Portland’s inclusionary zoning policy, though we would like to see more details from her on social housing. We appreciate her prioritization of bike lanes and pedestrian infrastructure in the city budget during her tenure as mayor of Portland from 2019 to 2023.
Atiim Boykin
We liked that Atiim Boykin’s responses to our survey highlighted the need for building more housing and for updating Portland’s inclusionary zoning policy, but we have concerns that the proposals he has put forth involve tailoring the policy to specific projects. This could introduce additional arbitrariness and uncertainty for projects and would be difficult to get right. His responses to some of our questions included some historical context but were otherwise vague and did not speak to the ongoing public processes that surround projects like the train station relocation and Franklin Street or set clear priorities for them.
City Council, District 5
| Candidate | Housing | Transportation | City Projects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jakobi Delgado | Good | Champion | Good |
| Michael Todd Chretien | Mixed | Good | Good |
| Ilma Lopez | Mixed | Mixed | Concerns |
| Kevin GardellaDid not respond | Concerns | Unclear | Unclear |
Jakobi Delgado
We like Jakobi Delgado’s commitment to denser housing and prioritization of transit as a frequent rider. His answer on priorities for Midtown, “One word: Housing,” aligns with our values. He has specific proposals for improving the service of GPMetro that are informed by his experience as a rider.
Michael Todd Chretien
We like that Todd Chretien is a supporter of social housing, and set a specific housing construction goal of 5,000 homes in 5 years. However, we would like to see more details about how he plans to achieve this goal and we are concerned about his lack of support for new market-rate housing and updating Portland’s existing inclusionary zoning policy. We are encouraged that he is supportive of reimagining Franklin Street despite his concerns about vehicle access and we hope he will be an advocate for all users of Franklin Street.
Ilma Lopez
We appreciate Ilma Lopez’s focus on pedestrian safety, but we would like to see more prioritization of transit and bikes. Her overall approach to housing policy is a little unclear. We are disappointed by her sole priority for the former Midtown lots being parks, and her lack of support for reimagining Franklin Street.
Kevin GardellaDid not respond
Kevin Gardella did not respond to our survey. In his responses to the Portland Voices candidate survey, he made comments that reflect opposition to specific housing projects that UCP has supported and new multi-family housing construction more generally, stating that the City Council should “make sure future development respects Portland’s history and scale.”
