The initial results are in for today's primary election in Oregon. Final results will take a while, since mail-in ballots are counted so long as they're postmarked on or before election day.
"Primary" doesn't apply to Salem mayor and city council races if a candidate gets 50% of the vote plus one, because then they win outright and are unopposed in the November general election.
So it sure looks like Julie Hoy will be the next Mayor of Salem. This is the combined initial result for Marion and Polk counties.
Not a huge surprise. Julie Hoy outspent Chris Hoy by a lot. Though Chris Hoy was the incumbent, he was saddled with his support for the highly unpopular employee payroll tax that was soundly rejected by voters last November.
Rather strangely, I never heard him admit that pushing for the city council to implement the tax without a vote of the people was a big mistake. Maybe if he'd done that, he would have fared better in his reelection bid.
Chris Hoy was the only member of the city council running for reelection who had voted for the payroll tax. So three of the four city council races featured fresh faces. (Councilor Nordyke voted against the tax and was unopposed.)
It appears that the progressive in the Ward 1 race, Paul Tigan, will end up winning the seat currently held by Virginia Stapleton, a fellow progressive.
The Ward 3 race is too close to call. Shane Matthews has a narrow lead over Nathan Soltz, the progressive candidate. This seat is currently held by Trevor Phillips, a progressive.
The Ward 5 race is also too close to call. Irvin Brown, the progressive candidate, has just a 19 vote lead over Michael Hoselton. This seat is currently held by Jose Gonzalez, a conservative.
To me the most interesting congressional race was between Janelle Bynum and Jamie McLeod-Skinner in the Democratic primary for the 5th District. Bynum trounced McLeod-Skinner, who narrowly lost in 2022 to Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer. I guess Democratic voters thought it was time for someone new to take on Chavez-Deremer in this swing district.
Currently progressives have a 6-3 majority on the nine person Salem City Council, mayor plus eight councilors. With Mayor Hoy's apparent loss, that leaves the progressives at 5-4. So ideological control of the City Council will come down to the Ward 3 and Ward 5 races. Unless the progressive candidate wins one of those wards, conservative members of the City Council will be a majority.
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