Governor Kotek Endorses Carmen Rubio For Portland Mayor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2024
Contact: Terri Waller, 510-409-5108c [email protected]

(Portland, Ore) - The campaign to elect Carmen Rubio as Portland’s next Mayor is pleased to announce that Governor Tina Kotek has thrown her support behind Commissioner Rubio.

In endorsing Rubio, Governor Kotek shared: “Carmen Rubio has a track record of getting results. She’s focused on what matters – cleaning up the city, getting people into shelter and affordable housing, and bringing back the city we all love. We can count on her to deliver the kind of change Portland urgently needs.”

“I am humbled, grateful, and energized by the Governor’s support. Not just because I admire her commitment to public service, but because Governor Kotek knows what it will take to bring Portland to its full potential - and how important it is to have leadership alignment, at all levels of government, to achieve results. I am known as a collaborator that doesn’t fear taking responsibility for the way forward and making the hard call, when needed, to deliver results,” Rubio said.

As the next Mayor of Portland, Carmen is deeply committed to addressing our city's urgent challenges. Her top priorities include ending unsheltered homelessness by increasing temporary and permanent supportive housing, and working with the state and county to expand access to comprehensive addiction and mental health treatments. She will enhance public safety with a strong emphasis on community policing and accountability measures like body-worn cameras, by recruiting the well-trained officers Portland needs that reflect the diversity of our city, expanding the use of unarmed public safety support specialists and improving and stabilizing Portland Street Response.

Additionally, her administration will aggressively push for more affordable housing at all income levels and champion sustainable development initiatives to ensure Portland leads as a climate and equity trailblazer. Her vision is to build a more inclusive, safe, equitable, just and sustainable Portland for everyone.

“Portland's new form of government will necessitate a leader who is skilled in collaboration and coalition building – and has the track record to prove it. My experience before City Hall, as part of a community coalition, uniquely qualifies me for this role. I have successfully collaborated with government officials, public and private sector leaders, and community organizations to implement complex projects and policies,” Carmen added. “I am the only candidate in the race who has executive level experience running a large, multi-million dollar organization – and executive level leadership in government, both as an elected official and as a senior policy advisor to a former Portland Mayor, Mayor Potter. When I was the Executive DIrector of the Latino Network, I grew the organization from under 10 employees to over 140 – and from a few million dollars to over $18 million dollars. I know what it means to build a large ship and steer it in the right direction – and I can’t emphasize that enough.”

Carmen also has earned the support of several labor organizations and many community leaders. Those organizations include the NW Oregon Labor Council, LiUNA! Local 737, and the Portland Association of Teachers.

A partial list of individuals include: former Governor Kate Brown; former Mayor Tom Potter; former City Commissioner Mike Lindberg; Gresham City Councilor Eddy Morales; Metro President Lynn Peterson and Councilors Duncan Hwang, Juan Carlos González & Christine Lewis; Multnomah County Commissioner Jesse Beason; former Multnomah County Commissioners Susheela Jayapal & Maria Rojo de Steffey; Washington County Commissioner Nafisa Fai; State Senators Michael Dembrow, Kayse Jama; State Representatives Rob Nosse, Khanh Pham, Thuy Tran, Andrea Valderrama; Rukaiyah Adams; Dwight Adkins, Ruth Adkins: Michael Alexander; Oscar Arana Ochoa; Gale Castillo; Andrew Colas; Elisa Dozono; Miguel Elias; Sara Fischer; Ernesto Fonseca; Jeana Frazzini; Antonio Lara; Victoria Lara; Elizabeth Leach; Dani Ledezma; Rebecca Lee; Holly Levow; Paul Lumley; Linda McKim-Bell; Angel Medina; Eddie Moreno; Marcus Mundy; Eddie Passadore; Wendy Rankin; Shelli Romero; Pastor Robin Wisner; Jeana Woolley; Winta Yohannes.

A more complete list of Carmen’s current endorsements can be found here.