2012 Portland, Oregon mayoral election

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, an election was held in Portland, Oregon, to elect the mayor. Charlie Hales was elected, defeating Jefferson Smith. Incumbent mayor Sam Adams did not seek a second term.^[1]

2012 Portland, Oregon mayoral election

← 2008 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2016 →

Nominee Charlie Hales Jefferson Smith Eileen Brady First-round vote 50,403 44,484 29,427 First-round percentage 37.22% 32.85% 21.73% Second-round vote 163,522 83,741 Second-round percentage 61.2% 31.3%

Mayor before election Sam Adams Elected mayor Charlie Hales

Portland uses a nonpartisan system for local elections, in which all voters are eligible to participate. All candidates are listed on the ballot without any political party affiliation.

All candidates meeting the qualifications competed in a blanket primary election on Tuesday, May 15, 2012.^[2] As no candidate received an absolute majority, the top two finishers advanced to a runoff in the November 6 general election.^[3] In the general election, former city commissioner Charlie Hales defeated state representative Jefferson Smith with approximately 61% of the vote.^[4]

Primary

Candidates on the ballot

• David Ackerman, mailroom operator for The Oregonian^[5]
• Tre Arrow, environmental activist^[5]
• Max Bauske, student at Portland Community College^[5]
• Sam Belisle, manager at Red Robin^[5]
• Eileen Brady, businesswoman and co-founder of New Seasons Market^[6]
• Loren Brown, screenwriter^[5]
• Max Brumm, college student^[5]
• Dave Campbell, unemployed^[5]
• Robert Carron, artist and writer^[5]
• Bill Dant, real estate broker^[5]
• Scott Fernandez^[5]
• Charlie Hales, former Portland City Commissioner^[7]
• Lew Humble, retired mechanic^[5]
• Shonda Kelley, homemaker^[5]
• Michael Langley, businessman^[5]
• Blake Nieman-Davis, businessman^[5]
• Josh Nuttall, cashier^[5]
• Christopher Rich, media producer^[5]
• Scott Rose, architect for DLR Group^[5]
• Howie Rubin, insurance agent^[5]
• Jefferson Smith, state Representative^[8]
• Steve Sung, civil engineer^[5]
• Cameron Whitten, Occupy Portland protester^[5]

Declined to run

• Sam Adams, incumbent mayor^[1]
• Earl Blumenauer, U.S. Representative^[9]
• Jeff Cogen, Chairman of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners^[1]
• Jim Francesconi, former Portland City Commissioner^[10]
• Steve Novick, political strategist and Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in 2008^[10]
• Mike Reese, Chief of the Portland Police Bureau^[11]
• Dan Saltzman, Portland City Commissioner^[12]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Sam Adams	Tre Arrow	Eileen Brady	Max Brumm	Bill Dant	Charlie Hales	Mike Reese	Jefferson Smith	Other	Undecided
DMH Research[13]	May 10–12, 2012	500	± 4.4%	—	—	16%	—	—	32%	—	24%	8%	21%
SurveyUSA/KATU[14]	May 4–7, 2012	563	± 4.2%	—	—	28%	—	—	25%	—	27%	5%	15%
Elway/KGW/The Oregonian[15]	May 2–6, 2012	400	± 5.0%	—	—	16%	—	—	29%	—	28%	6%	18%
DHM Research/KPTV/OPB[16]	April 28–30, 2012	400	± 4.9%	—	—	23%	—	—	25%	—	20%	6%	28%
				18%	—	21%	—	—	22%	—	17%	—	23%
SurveyUSA/KATU[17]	April 10–12, 2012	548	± 4.3%	—	—	34%	—	—	22%	—	15%	9%	21%
SurveyUSA/KATU[18]	February 23–26, 2012	555	± 4.2%	—	7%	25%	2%	3%	16%	—	10%	8%	28%
SurveyUSA/KATU[19]	November 2–7, 2011	537	± 4.3%	—	—	23%	—	—	19%	–	14%	—	44%
				—	—	19%	—	—	13%	20%	11%	—	38%

Debate

2012 Portland mayoral election debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Nonpartisan	Nonpartisan	Nonpartisan
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Eileen Brady	Charlie Hales	Jefferson Smith
1	Apr. 27, 2012	AM 860 University of Portland	Tim Hohl	YouTube	P	P	P

Results

Portland mayoral primary election, 2012^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Charlie Hales	50,403	37.22
	Nonpartisan	Jefferson Smith	44,484	32.85
	Nonpartisan	Eileen Brady	29,427	21.73
	Nonpartisan	Scott Rose	1,740	1.29
	Nonpartisan	Cameron Whitten	1,730	1.28
	Nonpartisan	Scott Fernandez	1,372	1.01
	Nonpartisan	Steve Sung	1,204	0.89
	Nonpartisan	Tre Arrow	916	0.68
	Nonpartisan	Max Brumm	793	0.59
	Nonpartisan	Michael Langley	511	0.38
	Nonpartisan	Bill Dant	378	0.28
	Nonpartisan	David "The Ack" Ackerman	360	0.27
	Nonpartisan	Dave Campbell	320	0.24
	Nonpartisan	Shonda Kelley	279	0.21
	Nonpartisan	Loren Brown	211	0.16
	Nonpartisan	Howie Rubin	184	0.14
	Nonpartisan	Max Bauske	137	0.10
	Nonpartisan	Christopher Rich	115	0.08
	Nonpartisan	Lew Humble	91	0.07
	Nonpartisan	Robert Carron	87	0.06
	Nonpartisan	Josh Nuttall	69	0.05
	Nonpartisan	Sam Belisle	59	0.04
	Nonpartisan	Blake Neiman-Davis	55	0.04
	Write-in		479	0.35
Total votes			135,404	100

General election

The November 6 general election was a race between top-two primary finishers Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith.

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Charlie Hales	Jefferson Smith	Other	Undecided
SurveyUSA[21]	October 7–9, 2012	513	± 4.4%	37%	30%	—	33%
SurveyUSA[22]	September 14–18, 2012	506	± 4.4%	34%	29%	—	37%

Results

Portland mayoral general election, 2012^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Charlie Hales	163,522	61.2
	Nonpartisan	Jefferson Smith	83,741	31.3
	Write-in		20,039	7.5
Total votes			267,302	100