COVID-19 has shown that who we trust to lead us, matters. In difficult times, our leaders can be our champions or they can be the reason that our communities are left without a seat at the table. The stakes are high for our local elections. At the ballot box we have the chance to fundamentally change our government to make it better reflect and serve our communities.
In May, we will have the opportunity to elect leaders who come from our communities and share our lived experiences. They will represent our values and vision as our Portland City Council Commissioners, Multnomah and Washington County Commissioners, the Multnomah County District Attorney, Metro Councilors, state representatives and Secretary of State. They will determine budgets and funding for programs that we use every day like transportation, parks, and mental health services and enact policies to advance racial justice, create more affordable housing, combat climate change, and fight hate in our communities. These positions matter, and your vote matters.
On December 20th, we publicly announced our candidate endorsement process for the May 2020 Primary Election. Since then APANO has worked to inform our community of the importance of these elections to build political power for Asians and Pacific Islanders— and by asking all voters to be allies and elect candidates who care about community, who care about human dignity, and share our APANO values.
Building on our successes in May 2019—when APANO endorsed and helped elect seven school board members, including four women of color—APANO is excited to support candidates who are community leaders and have demonstrated a strong commitment to creating a world in which we can all thrive and improving the lives of our API communities in Oregon. With that, we are thrilled to officially announce our slate of candidates who have earned APANO’s endorsement for Oregon’s May 19, 2020 Primary Elections.
- Nafisa Fai for Washington County Commissioner Position 1 (Central Beaverton)
- Wlnsvey Campos, Oregon House District 28 (Democratic primary)
- Khanh Pham, Oregon House District 46 (Democratic primary)
- Carmen Rubio, Portland City Council, Position 1 (at-large)
- Dual endorsement of Tera Hurst and Sam Chase for Portland City Council, Position 2 (at-large)
- Chloe Eudaly, Portland City Council Position 4 (at-large)
- Jessica Vega Pederson, Multnomah County Commissioner District 3 (SE Portland)
- Lori Stegmann, Multnomah County Commissioner, District 4 (East County)
- Mike Schmidt, Multnomah District Attorney (at-large)
- Bob Stacey, Metro Council, District 6 (NE/SE Portland)
- Jamie McLeod-Skinner, Oregon Secretary of State
Over the next two months we’ll continue to unveil more about our incredible candidates and why APANO endorsed them. We’ll also share ways for community members to get involved in 2020 through APANO, through canvassing, phonebanking, and talking about issues that matter.
In the meantime...
UPDATE/REGISTER TO VOTE: Oregonians (that are 16 years old or older and U.S. citizens) can now register to vote online in any of these languages (English, Español Spanish, 中文 Chinese, Tiếng Việt Vietnamese, Soomaali Somali, and русский Russian). To vote for Khanh Pham, Wlnsvey Campos, or Jamie McLeod Skinner, you must be a registered Democrat. The deadline to register or update your registration for the May primary is April 28, 2020.
DONATE: If you believe in building API political power in Oregon, consider investing in and supporting APANO with a donation so we can take this work to more people and more places around Oregon.
If you want to learn more about our elections work or our greater 501(c)(4) political program, please contact Robin Ye, Political Director, at robin@apano.org.
This programming message brought to you by APANO, a 501(c4) nonprofit organization.
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