Marissa Yang Bertucci Marissa Yang Bertucci

may primary election ❀

These three boys are going to jump over the table we set up in the grieving room like it’s a track hurdle.

These three boys are going to jump over the table we set up in the grieving room like it’s a track hurdle. Their bodies are springy, agile, just slipping from childhood into puberty. They have enough energy between them to power a racecar, a building, even. They’ve had a very fucked up time of things and possess the kind of psychic friend connection which allows them to eye the table, eye each other, and know that they’re all going to wind up 20 feet and propel themselves over the tabletop one after another like lanky gazelles. 

I’m sitting on a chair with my notebook on my lap watching this limply. I’ve written the names of the boys who’ve been shot: one dead, three injured. I don’t know anything except their ages, which I write after their names: 17, 16, 15, 14. 

My boys careen over the table and the girl crying in the corner shoots them a death glare. I suggest we go outside to walk the track, and we do. I suggest that they race to the end and back, and they do. One gamely runs there and then walks defeatedly back. “I’m creasing my shoes,” he says to me. He moves his mouth over to one side of his face in a crooked purse. 

“Can’t have that,” I say. 

The boys hover around me in loping, uneven cicles. I can tell they want to talk about it, so I ask, “What do you wish had happened?” 

“I wish I hadn’t heard the gunshots at all. I was in my apartment backyard. It was so loud, so close to me.” He pauses. “I’m scared to walk home.” He checks his friends to make sure he hasn’t said too much. 

“They were so loud,” one confirms. 

The last boy starts jogging, facing us backwards. “Wish?” He looks up at the clouds, eyelashes so long they touch his eyebrows. “I wish I was a superhero and —” he smiles, starts to laugh, looks so wistful, “and I had been able to pluck the bullet out of the air and no one would have gotten hurt.” 

“Yes!” his friends crow. They start jogging too, and their laughing makes me laugh. “We could have flied in there and stopped it!”

“And flown away!”

“And gone somewhere!” 

“Gone to the beach!” 

“Gone to Australia!” 

They run. They circle back to me and watch my smile turn neutral. “I can understand your wishes,” I say. “You wish you had been able to stop it, and that you had the ability to stop it safely for the rest of your life. We hear so many gunshots around here.” 

“So many,” one says. 

“Soooooo many,” another chirps. 

“It feels stupid for me to ask you how you can try to feel safer when it’s actually not safe,” I tell them. “Sometimes it’s enough to just be less alone. Can y’all walk home together?” 

“My mom isn’t home ‘til late,” one says. 

“I don’t want to go home alone,” another says. 

“We can all go to my place,” shoe crease boy says. 

They run. It’s going to rain. 

One boy is ready to go back to class. 

“He has a crush in seventh period,” shoe crease tells me. 

“STOP.” Crush boy tackles his friend. 

“A crush is a really good reason to go to class,” I offer. 

He lets go of his friend. “Yeah. I gotta find my backpack.” 

Driving home that afternoon, I think about all the kids I’ve been talking to about shootings. I think about the cones in the streets to slow down traffic, the special committees formed and dispatched, the listening sessions, the slow trickle of money throughout the city. The shootings are not new and yet they feel new and dire. I think about harm reduction, and when I think about politics and voting, my brain veers away like the very thought of voting is a stove coil still too hot to the touch. 

I say, like you say: “Ugh.” 

I want our babies in every single corner of this neighborhood and this city and this planet to have their crushes unfettered by violence. I want them to pass notes and hold hands and even make out. I, like you, don’t know what the fuck we’re going to do except keep chipping away in pursuit of more safety, more access for everyone, more cuteness when we can catch it. 

This primary election, I’m going to do some best guesses. Everyone knows I’ve been wrong before. And most of our elected officials will not be able to address gun violence or abortion access in spite of the Facebook ads that keep flashing Planned Parenthood and NARAL-PAC endorsements like we in Oregon are under special siege. 

I have been clocking which types of houses sprout which election yard signs. The city is tired this year.

Everyone’s on the ballot this May, hehe. We have governor primaries, senators, reps, judges, city commissioners, enough to make your eyes water. As usual, I am just a scrub. You shouldn’t feel like you have to vote as I vote: I do this for fun, because I love you and look forward to our yearly conversation about these FUCKING material conditions we are all subject to, and out of some kind of compulsion to share the internet stalking I do with y’all.

There is so much to wade through and shit has really popped off in my family, so I know this is coming to you late, and I kept it brief — much briefer than usual, if you’ve been with me for a long time. I’m excited to do a deep dive with y’all this November.

For now, here were my considerations. 


Where candidates ran unopposed, I didn’t even mention it unless there was a reason to. In my mind, I will always give an outstanding newbie a chance to unseat an incumbent. Change is possible! Also in my mind: deep cynicism, deep worry, and sometimes a willingness to elect or re-elect a normie little biatch if I get the sense that they’ll help move the whole needle closer to alleviating suffering for our most marginalized SOONER rather than LATER when circumstances seem irreparably enmeshed with finite political capital. I got some idealism for sure and I am no long-term strategist, but I am always, always thinking with the lens of alleviating suffering above nearly everything.  

I am LIMITED, BABES!!!! I am Korean and white, femme, queer, able-bodied. I grew up working class, now work a middle class public education job. I have particular lived experience (and TRAUMA!!! hehe) around housing, education, healthcare, and immigration xenophobia, and so froth a little more profusely about those topics. I have many, many areas of lesser knowledge (which I will always try to flag transparently for y’all) and I miss many, many things. Famously, I am an idiot! I just want you to know what I know, at least, and for you to take it or leave it as you see fit.  

I stick to Portland candidates. Many of the endorsement sources listed touch on other cities and counties around the state. I consulted: 


Voting accessibility laws have changed in Oregon again, so you can drop your ballot without a stamp in the mail all the way until Election Day and they’ll count votes several days past the 18th. You can also find an official ballot dropbox near you and drop off until 8pm on Election Day.

If you are having trouble getting your ballot dropped off, send me a DM with your neighborhood and I’ll try to have one of my hot friends pick it up. Seriously. And if you’re a hot friend who wants to pick up ballots around town, let me know too. 

If you lost your ballot, want to re-vote, or never received your ballot, you can get a replacement ballot ordered to your local elections office. I have done this so many times HAHAHAHAHA for myself, my mom, others. The will-call system is so clutch. 

I love you. Grab your nicest pen. 


Candidates 


US Senator: Ron Wyden

Do you also get a vague Liam Neeson vibe from Senator Wyden? I’m not here to fetishize or lionize this dude, but that calm Liam Neeson is not nothing. He’s a four-term Senator who has been effective, rather to the left of more classically moderate white guy dems, and importantly, he is entangled in ongoing conversations about student debt pauses and cancellation. I, uh, really want meaningful student loan reform, and with Senate democrats already SO FUCKING FRUSTRATINGLY GLACIAL, I am not willing to lose Wyden’s spot in line in this fight. 


US Representative, 1st District: Susanne Bonamici 

I’m voting to re-elect Bonamici. She is so much more specific than challenger Scott Phillips, who was a Peace Corps volunteer and literally cites as part of his experience, “Work as a Change Agent from African villages to the halls of Fortune 500 companies,” which, once you untangle the syntax, has such disturbing conceptual implications hahahahahahahaha. WOWWWW. Bonamici does not score the endorsements of more progressive, community-of-color coalitions that I like to look for, and I think that’s because she’s a very true blue Dem in a way that many of us do not roll with. But I can grasp that her specificity and preexisting Rep experience and clout are making important strides with maternity leave a childcare, the price of prescription drugs, and climate change.   


US Representative, 5th District: Jamie McLeod-Skinner 

This is a really interesting race. I have seen more social media advertisements for incumbent Kurt Schrader than literally anything else. He has replaced even the omnipresent targeted ads for the Our Place Only Pan (which I did buy). In the ads, he’s wearing blue denim and a button-down tucked just so into a brown leather belt. He is trying to serve Bruce Springsteen and reach cynical bisexual millennial voters such as myself. 

Schrader is rather solidly a party-line voter, especially for straightforward socially progressive issues like reproductive health and climate change. I think he would keep us trotting along if he were re-elected, and if he wins this primary, I will endorse him in November without hesitation. 

But I am compelled by his more fiscally conservative tendencies at a time when, like, we could really use some bold moves while we have a Democratic presidency. Cancel student loan debt, dude!!!! Schrader is endorsed by Biden, which made my face go like this: 🙄


I am endorsing Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who runs a more lefty ticket. Even if she loses, giving her a vote and impressing upon Schrader that the electorate wants more radical energy is worthwhile to me. It is true that this is a very fucking narrow district. According to the Willamette Week, this newly drawn district is super narrow and could swing: Democrat voters only outnumber Republicans by about 27,000, and we know that Republicans are much more likely to get out the vote. It is true, too, that if McLeod-Skinner wins the primary, her Republican opponents will make easy fodder of her so-called “radicalism,” though if you look at her priorities, she is not so radical at all. This risk-averse rhetoric may be on to something, but I rather think that the only way to see is to get there. 

WW, in their endorsement of McLeod-Skinner, calls Kurt Schrader “obstructionist:”

He voted against COVID stimulus checks because he wanted more means testing. He held up Biden’s infrastructure package because he didn’t want to let Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices. On a conference call with Democratic leadership, he complained that the second impeachment of President Donald Trump would be “a lynching.”   

ENOUGH!!!!!!! 

McLeod-Skinner gets my vote because she might actually excite the base enough to get higher turnout in November. I think she’ll swing much further left than Schrader on matters of rental assistance, student loan forgiveness, healthcare. 

This mega-dykey photo of her in a cowboy hat on a horse makes me LOL. 


This WW headline makes me LOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL:


I made the mistake of reading the comments on a Washington Post article about this race. People are nasty. And so, so conservative in such scary ways. 

This will be a race about which to bother your moderate uncles and younger cousins who aren’t registered to vote yet: it will be very close in November and we are fucked if we lose this seat to a Republican. 


Governor: Tina Kotek 

House Speaker Kotek is gonna get my vote. Kotek’s biggest competitor is treasurer Tobias Read, who’s smart, though moderate, and a longtime politico. He just isn’t enough for me. Sorry, Tobias. There is nothing about the messaging or materials forom the Tobias Read campaign that has quickened my pulse even a little.

Kotek is not perfect. She has sometimes steamrolled or burned the wrong bridge in a pushy white woman way. But when I think about daily life for the people I love in Oregon, about their rights to reproductive justice and sick leave and housing and schools and climate change/wildfire policy, I want someone like Kotek at the table with the absolutely wild conservatives who have managed to kill very basic climate change legislation like cap and trade and taxation of corporations for decades. I honestly got a thrill sitting here at the coffeeshop thinking about her Slytherin ass not smiling at the table with some Koch brothers-ass baby man. HAHAHAHA. Much more on her later if she wins the primary. Just vote for her. Lmao. 


This is a race that’s too symbolic for me to defer to a more moderate candidate. Oregon hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Victor G. Atiyeh, who served from 1979 to 1987. This might be the year that comes closest to swinging back, so keep this in the forefront of your mind as you move through the world until November. People are BIG MAD about Kate Brown. On my drive home today, I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read: KATE BROWN FOR PRISON. I’ve seen so many of these. Kate Brown is a symbol of control and radicalism for, like, the mask mandate……………….which she was arguably too soft about. People fucking hate her. Those same people see Tina Kotek as an extension of her, but more visibly queer, more angular, none of Brown’s soft Basset hound eyes and pearls strung on her slight frame. They’re going to mobilize to elect a Republican governor (keep an eye on who the Republicans move through the primary on Tuesday). 


So we could do the thing of making Tobias Read our moderate Democrat safe guy. We could allow the right wing to move our party further to the center. We could keep slipping, keep making concessions to a party that grows more extreme at every turn. We sure could. It’s happening all over the country. We have fucking Joe Biden in office. 


But I will not fucking budge on this. There are so many races on which I am willing to give an inch, vote for the moderate person to keep someone blue in office. For sure. 


But the SYMBOLISM, the CAVING, the COWARDICE. The race is too visible and the symbolism is too potent. And the far right doesn’t care that we (I use “we” very loosely here; they are not really “we” or “us,” these Democrat politicians) get more moderate. They take bigger steps forward when we offer an inch — I’m not talking about nitty-gritty compromise and reaching across the aisle and consensus. I’m talking about BASIC human rights ideology and principles. WE DO NOT GIVE AN INCH ON THIS. Some of these right wing fools are pushing for their agendas with a single-mindedness that’s honestly inspiring. I wish Dems would fucking do that. We don’t change any hearts and minds by saying, “Okay, sorry, our woman governor was too mean and too radical. Here is a nice man you may be more comfortable with.” 


It’s not a great mystery what does change hearts and minds. Every single public policy program in this country can take out their notepads. One way to change hearts and minds is organizing and getting results that actually improve people’s lives. Another is relationships. Jot that down. 


I’m going to vote for the person who’s a little closer to my ideology here because on the gubernatorial level it really matters right now. I would like for us to ELECT HER and I would like in her tenure for Oregon Democrats to GET SOME FUCKING RESULTS. 


We concede not one inch here. Kotek is not perfect. Tobias Read is not a bad candidate or a bad choice. But I would only be voting for him out of fear of a bad outcome in the November general. 


I am not doing it. 


State Representative, 41st District: Mark Gamba 

Now first I want to say that running against him is Kaliko Castille, which is an ICONIC name. I keep walking around my house saying, “Kaliko Castille. Kaleeeeko.” Castille has progressive priorities and maybe we’ll see him around in the future. I think Castille, who got the Portland Association of Teachers’ endorsement, could totally earn your vote. 


At this time, I will be voting for Gamba, an experienced progressive politician who isn’t afraid to dis Ted Wheeler. Republican State Senators in Oregon, famous for just fucking off when they don’t want to vote on something, are so ungovernable and uncooperative and wild; therefore, I would like to elect a savvy progressive like Gamba whom I believe will not ideologically or strategically be intimidated or outdone. The Oregon legislature is on some embarrassing, clumsy, wannabe Game of Thrones type shit, and Gamba gives much-needed unamused father with principles energy. 


Lit’rally love to see Kayse Jame, Tawna Sanchez, Ashton Simpson, Libra Lorde, Zeloszelos Marchandt, Khanh Pham, Andrea Valderrama, and Hoa Nguyen on ballots. I’ve been following your careers, y’all. Some are not in PDX, and some are running unopposed, but I just wanted to put some love on their names.

Hehe special shoutout to Tawna. Hehehehehee. You’d be amazed by how many times in a year I think about Tawna Sanchez. Seeing her face framed by two braids in the Oregon Voters Pamphlet just does a lot for me. 


State Representative, 44th District: Travis Nelson

Nelson has amassed the endorsements I love to see (teachers, carpenters and laborers, nurses, Planned Parenthood, and a lot of more experienced politicians whom I hope welcome Nelson quickly into the fold to begin work immediately). Nelson is Black, queer, and super cute. He’s running against Eric Delehoy, also aligned with the gays. Delehoy and Nelson have articlated incredibly similar priorities around houselessness, education, and so on. I am compelled by this identity politics question: among two good, smart candidates who are rather well balanced on policy, do I vote for the Black person? Literally yes. For his lived experience, capacity for nuance, perspective, for the constituents who will feel more comfortable sharing their concerns with him. Yes. Especially representing North and NE PDX.  


State Representative, 45th District: Thuy Tran

That’s DOCTOR Thuy Tran to you!!!! Thuy Tran has amassed, hands down, the most yard signs on all my routes to and from work and friends. I see her name all over East Portland in our more Brown and Black neighborhoods. I found this interview of Tran and similarly progressive competitor Catherine Thomasson helpful. Thomasson has more experience in climate change policy, where Tran (a Parkrose School Board member) has more in education. Both have similar values and could be counted on to vote similarly, I believe, so this came down to a bit of a coin toss for me. Tran is endorsed by the Mother PAC, APANO, the Portland Association of Teachers. 


Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries: Christina E Stephenson 

OPB’s overview of this position and candidates may be helpful for you in jogging your memory about the position and what shit the BOLI Labor Commissioner does. They helpfully remind us of that one time Avakian fined Sweet Cakes a hundred grand for refusing to bake a cake for a queer couple. Their main role is to protect the rights of workers as a ~civil rights watchdog~ woof woof. In this position, I reeeeally looked to the endorsements of labor unions and organizations for many reasons, not the least of which being that we are still living through a pandemic, baby! With federal conservatism in full swing and an absolute joke of a SCOTUS, I also look where LGBTQ-rights orgs (especially thinking about protecting our trans and gender nonconforming babes in the workplace) and communities of color have placed their bets. SEIU says Christina, and so does APANO, and so does Basic Rights Oregon, and according to OPB, so do the five previous labor commissioners, including Democrats and a Republican. Stephenson is framed by others as smart, clear, ethical. A bold frame for her glasses. Slay, I think?   


Judge of the Court of Appeals, Position 3: Darleen Ortega 

We cannot elect Vance Day, oh my god. This dude was redlit by queer PAC BRO using the following language: “A redlight designates a candidate we have grave concerns about, and urge you not to vote for.” GRAVE CONCERNS!!!! 


I also have grave concerns. I look into his eyes in the voter pamphlet and I see someone who is willing to interpret the law more and more conservatively. I think that as the electorate expands and media attention stays hot on electoral politics, we are going to see more use of the judiciary and the interpretation of the law for socially conservative bullshit. Sometimes I close my eyes and picture water seeping underneath a door and filling in the cracks in the pavement, the soil between stones. This has been happening with the conservative backslide and it will keep happening. Judges make critical decisions for people every goddamn day. In the court of appeals, judges see all appeals from lower criminal and civil courts, and also do some state administration legal interpretation. This is a lot of power every single day. 


This dude right on the Oregon state voter pamphlet takes the time to say: “Unfortunately, cancel culture looms large in our society.” MAY I JUST SAY HOW PHENOMENALLY BORED I AM WITH THE DISCOURSE AROUND CANCEL CULTURE!!!!!!!!! MAY I ALSO SAY HOW CREEPY AND DERANGED IT IS FOR A JUDGE TO IMPLY THAT THEY ARE GOING TO ~STAND UP TO CANCEL CULTURE~ AND STAND UP FOR ~LIBERTY AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH~ when this seems clearly to be a dog-whistle for selective-ass liberty and freedom of speech such as ~the mask mandate~ and other shit. He also claims to know what it feels like to have the boot of the government on his neck. LMAO. When a bougie white dude claims this……………don’t tread on me-ass……………………he has no idea what it means to have his body and his safety actually policed by the government. 


Meanwhile, Darleen Ortega is someone whom I’d actually like to be on the court of appeals examining human conflict with a human accessibility lens. I like that she cites humility and listening as crucial judicial skills. She has been on the Oregon Court of Appeals bench since 2003, making her the first woman of color and the only Latina to serve as an appellate judge in our state. She also teaches law all over the state, even founding a George Fox alumni organization supporting queer students called OneGeorgeFox. Trustworthy! 

Multnomah County Chair: Jessica Vega Peterson

In a lot of ways, it was a coin-toss for me between Sharon Meieran, Lori Stegmann, and Jessica Vega-Pederson. All have experience as county commissioners and have done good work. Sharon Meieran brings a lot to the table (her sharpness in answers in this OPB interview is sick). She’s a current commissioner, has attracted support from more lefty sources like State Senator Akasha Lawrence Spence and the Basic Rights Oregon PAC, and I dig that she has served on the police and mental health oversight committees. I still lean JVP because of the depth and breadth of her experience in this astounding time of crisis in Portland. Housing instability and gun violence float to the tippy top of my brain and she has already made inroads in these two areas. I hope she goes deeper and I think this new position may allow for significant change and improvement across many complex sectors. JVP also gives a huge, tangible fuck about kids and early education, which I love. 


Multnomah County Commissioner, District 2: Susheela Jayapal 

Lots of high-quality candidates in this race. I opt to keep Susheela Jayapal in her current position to deepen the work she’s already begun as commissioner rather than waste critical time and resources on candidates with similar values. Keep the ball rolling with an effective leader. It’s kinda as simple as that for me. Her website’s color palate slaps. 


Multnomah County Sheriff: Coin-toss ACAB vibes 

Harm reduction in policing really just leaves me blinking at a wall, and I think this is a position where I am an irrelevant, unqualified, angry little light-skinned Asian girl. What I’ll tell you is that we have a race between a white woman, Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell, and a Black man, Derrick Peterson. Both have lots of endorsements from all kinds of folks, and both seem to be painting themselves as transformative, justice-forward, willing to lead with humility and justice and keep kids safe, etc. etc. We simply have beloved people dying at alarming rates from violence in our communities and I simply still don’t think that transforming policing is going to do anything. hehe. 


I have left this spot on my ballot blank because it just………………………………phew. I don’t want sweeps of houseless folks. I don’t want racial profiling. I don’t want more policing in communities of color. I don’t want even your nicest, funniest SROs in schools. I don’t want criminalization of addiction and mental health. I, like you, recognize the huge tectonic plates that must shift to address all of these. 


I will likely vote for Derrick Peterson. But do you. 


City of Portland Auditor: Simone Rede

I just learned that Rede identifies as queer. Cool! Love when queers love to audit. We are a naturally nitpicky community. 


Honestly I love her background as a SUN schools program coordinator LOL. I love SUN. I’m into her priorities of safety and accessibility for kids and families and I can imagine how she will link this to significant overhauls and oversight in housing assistance programs. Endorsed by many previous auditors, workers, Imagine Black, Next Up action fund (which has touched many of my favorites in OR). Read this article from OPB if you’re curious about more. 


Portland City Commissioner, Position 2: AJ McCreary 

I remember talking to the charming and bright Dan Ryan on the phone before his election in 2020. It meant a lot to me that he offered me the time and answered my questions. I have been watching his career in city council carefully, and I will never forget talking to him about police at the very height of the defund police movement and him promising he would vote to defund…and then at one of the very first opportunities to do so, he opted not to. I remember talking in the car with my friends about this, surprised at my own surprise. I can understand getting into office and realizing it’s more complex than you thought. But don’t promise me SHIT then. And if your framework for compassionate care still doesn’t include defunding the police…I GOT SOME QUESTIONS. 


I think Ryan has accomplished a lot of good things, but there’s still this tone that gets me sometimes — on his campaign website, he says, “It’s time to take action about the major drug problem on our streets. Allowing this to continue isn’t compassionate, and it’s not fair to anyone. In my experience with my brother, and as someone who went through recovery, I know that enabling doesn’t work, no matter the intentions.” As a mental health worker myself, as a person whose loved ones also experience housing instability, addition, mental health crisis, I think about this phrase a lot: “Enabling doesn’t work, no matter the intentions.” Is that what you think we’re doing? Enabling? 


So he’s running a more moderate campaign (still progressive, sure, sure) that I think a lot of Portlanders who feel stuck and frustrated will resonate with, and I don’t think all is lost if he wins. I will look for continued pressure on HOUSING as a meaningful, evidence-based, effective solution for houselessness. I will look for an attitude about policing that DOES acknowledge that they have a bloated, silly budget and that more money doesn’t mean more safety. 


Okay, then we come to AJ McCreary. A newcomer. Bright pink and orange lawn signs all over the city. Not a ton of experience. Not a ton to really, actually say that it’ll be an easy step into City Council. There will of course be a lot to learn. But VALUES-wise, and in the current case of characters at City Hall, I see more radical votes passing that will tangibly benefit our most vulnerable communities. I think people WILDLY discredit the savvy it takes to be a community organizer, which AJ has in spades. She’s the kind of community leader with integrity whom I’d be delighted to offer more power and resources. And her plans do include specificity, especially around housing access and bolstering Portland Street Response.  


Here’s a helpful comparison of AJ and Dan. 


I think there’s a good chance Dan Ryan wins over 50% of the vote on name recognition alone and secures his position without heading to a run-off in November. I would at the very least like there to be a run-off election to learn more about where everybody falls on more issues. Treating AJ McCreary like a viable contender also allows Ryan to adjust his message to respond to a leftier electorate, if that’s who we indeed are. And we elevate her into the public sphere by taking her seriously. She has my vote here. I hope she sticks around and becomes part of changemaking in this city for years to come. 



Portland City Commissioner, Position 3: Jo Ann Hardesty 

This race is crowded as fuck, frankly. People really hate Jo Ann’s hard line on things. And — tee hee — I think most of the critique is racist. I hate when people bring up her credit card debt. Leave her personal life out of things. Her personal finances, with a lifetime of context that’s literally none of our business, don’t tell me ANYTHING meaningful about her ability to think about city budgets in complex teams with huge amounts of auditing and checks. Some of y’all have never been in credit card debt or loved someone who has defaulted on their loans and it really shows. 


I fear she may lose her seat here. Her best chance is to take 51% in this primary election because the glut of candidates may splinter themselves. She has actually conceded SO MUCH and compromised on so many things, and say what you want about her, but she is a person who gets results. Skim the parts of the article that give too much time to her ~questionable past~ but here’s WW’s rundown on places she’s made an impact. Read through the achievements she’s listed on her website — yes, these things have happened on complex teams and they’re her election materials so take them with a grain of salt, but HELLO, SHE IS INVOLVED IN SO MANY THINGS. ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THIS MANY HELPFUL THINGS? IS ANYONE ELSE?  


Of course she’s not perfect. But understand this: She has gotten results for Portlanders. And SHE IS SO MUCH MORE VIABLE AND EFFECTIVE A CANDIDATE THAN ANYONE ELSE RUNNING. 


Metro Council President: Lynn Peterson, but you might opt for Alisa Pyszka

I do stan Gary Lyndon Dye who is running for Metro president by saying that his number one priority is abolishing Metro altogether due its redundancy. Hahahaha. 

I HIGHLY recommend this article by Bike Portland articulating the very valid critiques of incumbent Lynn Peterson who concedes too often to ODOT’s megaprojects which end up having awful environmental impacts. I think a vote for newcomer Alisa Pyszka articulates very valid discontent with that. 


I stuck with Lynn Peterson because while I disagree with her on stuff, I think she’s pliable enough to public opinion if we organize. Our communities benefit from her effectiveness, connections, and experience. But we can and should be sharing our concerns about environmental impact and being too moderate. 


Lynn gets endorsements from APANO, BRO, the Street Trust, and more. 


Metro Council, District 1: Christine Lewis 

Special shoutout to newcomer Mei Wong — hope you stick around!!!! 


I just couldn’t get past how good Christine Lewis is at what she does, particularly in treating houseless folks with curiosity, understanding, and dignity. Phew. 


Metro Council, District 6: Duncan Hwang 

UNDERSTAND THIS. IS WE DON’T ELECT DUNCAN HWANG, I AM LEAVING PORTLAND

YOU HEARD ME!!!!!!!


Ok maybe not. But this is a brilliant, effective, community-minded public servant who has been around the damn block for our communities. Duncan is endorsed by all the faves: Imagine Black, APANO, Willamette Week (aka home of the wild crossword that gives me a heart attack every single week), the Street Trust, and more. 


In fact, just read the Street Roots interview right now. I started writing a mini-biography of Hwang and his community accomplishments, but he’s so much clearer and more specific than any paraphrase I could offer y’all. 


A highlight: 

I will be focused on racial equity and enhancing investments for safer streets. I was proud to have successfully advocated for $185 million in funding from the legislature to be dedicated to 82nd Ave for its transfer to the city of Portland. This boulevard can serve as a model: the center of a thriving low-carbon neighborhood with frequent bus service, lined with affordable housing and small businesses, rooted to the neighborhood’s existing AAPI community — all with an eye on anti-displacement. As our region eyes future investment in ODOT’s other orphan highways like TV Highway, McLoughlin, Powell and Barbur, our successes on 82nd Avenue will set the standard for regenerative investment in retrofitting these dangerous roads into cherished community boulevards.

I’m eager to promote substantial investment in transit that best serves the variety of diverse communities across the Portland region based on a community-led vision for investments in green transportation options. Too often our transportation decisions are short-sighted, displace entire communities of color, adversely impact community health, and do little to address the climate crisis. With billions of dollars at stake, I want clear goals and accountability mechanisms in place to meet the region’s goals for a healthy, sustainable, and cost-effective transportation system that reduces vehicle miles traveled, advances high-capacity transit, and increases pedestrian and bike traffic along the corridor.


I mean. Let’s fucking go.

(◕ㅅ◕✿)

love you. take care of yourself, and each other. drink some water.

happy voting.

xoxo,

bitchtucci  

ps. my mama, the famous and iconic mama yang, the apple of my damn eye, has a cancer that will likely kill her. i am trying to make-a-wish her all the way back to Korea for a visit to her homeland. if you like the guide & want to sling some gratitude our way, you can cash app/venmo me @marissayangbertucci ✿ or like. can you send us airline miles? i have no idea how this works.

we fuckin love you.

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