There’s a mayoral race taking place in the city of Portland to replace outgoing mayor Ted Wheeler. Wheeler announced last year that he would not be running for reelection. The two leading candidates in the race are Rene Gonzalez and Carmen Rubio, both of whom are city council members looking to move up to the top job.
Gonzalez and Rubio couldn’t be more different, especially on homelessness and public safety, which remain top issues of concern to voters in Portland. Gonzalez has adopted a law & order approach which is unusual in the city.
Since taking office, he’s won over a swath of conservative voters with a hard-line stance on homelessness and drug use, while alienating progressives who claim his policies have harmed vulnerable Portlanders…
During his tenure on council, he led the charge to ban public drug use, after the mayor backed off previous efforts to do so.
Gonzalez led…
