PORTLAND, Ore. — Five leading candidates for Portland mayor will meet for a debate the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 15, hosted by KGW and The Oregonian. Sharing the debate stage will be Rene Gonzalez, Carmen Rubio, Keith Wilson, Mingus Mapps and Liv Østhus.
The debate will be broadcast live on KGW from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. that night. To stream the debate, find KGW+ on Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV. You can also watch it on the KGW website, the KGW News YouTube channel, or the KGW News app.
As it happens, Oct. 15 is also the last day for Oregonians to either register to vote or update their existing registration. Ballots will be mailed out starting the next day and should all be in the mail by Oct. 22.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5, and ballots can be returned to a drop box up until 8 p.m. that night and still be counted, or they can be mailed back through Nov. 5 as long as they are postmarked by Election Day at the latest.
What to know
When Portland voters approved a sweeping charter reform measure in 2022, it prescribed a major shakeup of the city government structure — including a new role for the city's mayor and an expanded city council. Those changes all become official at the start of 2025, just as the candidates elected in November take office, which means this election represents a clean slate for Portland city government. Every elected position is up for grabs.
Current Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler decided not to run for reelection to the new position, but sitting commissioners Rene Gonzalez, Carmen Rubio and Mingus Mapps all threw their hats into the ring for mayor.
Portland voters will see the names of 19 total mayoral candidates on their ballots. To determine which candidates would participate in Tuesday's debate, KGW and The Oregonian looked at the candidates who have raised the most money in campaign contributions, excluding city matching funds, as well as the candidates who have amassed the highest number of Portland donors.
Alongside commissioners Gonzalez, Rubio and Mapps, candidates Keith Wilson and Liv Østhus met those criteria. Wilson is president and CEO of a trucking company and founder of homelessness nonprofit Shelter Portland, while Østhus is an exotic dancer, author, musician and sex worker advocate.
Most previous debates for mayor featured only Gonzalez, Rubio and Wilson, who have emerged as clear front-runners in terms of fundraising. City Club of Portland hosted all five for a mayoral candidate forum on Oct. 8.
In addition to questions posed by moderators from KGW and The Oregonian, the Oct. 15 debate will feature video questions submitted by viewers.