Portland City Council will elect its next president, but not everyone agrees

As Portland enters its second year under a new city government, some city councilors are pushing for a leadership change.

Their hope is to unseat Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney at Wednesday morning’s meeting as she vies for another year with the president’s gavel.

“This first year has prompted serious reflection among council members about what kind of leadership will best serve the city going forward,” said Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane, who has worked alongside Pirtle-Guiney as council vice president for the past 12 months. “I believe we need a president who can work collaboratively with the vice president and bring the council together, which is a large part of why I am supporting a change in council presidency.”

Koyama Lane, who has led the charge to replace Pirtle-Guiney, said she’s soured on Pirtle-Guiney’s leadership style. She and others on the 12-person body want Councilor Sameer Kanal to take over the role.

“If nominated by my colleagues to serve, I would accept the nomination,” Kanal told OPB.

The move sets the stage for a political battle to kick off the first council meeting of the new year, one which could influence the legislative body’s ability to work together in 2026.

Council presidents are elected at the first council meeting of the year with a vote. Democrat Pirtle-Guiney, whose politics lie squarely in the middle of the council’s political spectrum, was elected last January after nine tense rounds of deadlocked voting. Pirtle-Guiney represents District 2 in North and Northeast Portland.

As president, Pirtle-Guiney has overseen council meetings and set council agendas, meaning choosing when other councilors’ policy priorities come up for a vote. She’s also selected which councilors chair eight council committees and works closely with Mayor Keith Wilson to ensure his interests are reflected in council chambers.

Overseeing the legislative branch of city government during the new council’s inaugural year hasn’t been easy. Debates over the purpose, length and focus of council meetings have regularly sidelined conversation about legislation at council meetings. And the act of balancing the different interests of her fellow 11 councilors at the dias has attracted criticism.

She’s eager to keep the role.

“I have spent this first year doing a lot of the startup work, helping to solidify some processes for us and really trying to make sure that council is an important partner in the conversations happening,” Pirtle-Guiney told OPB last month. “If my colleagues think that it’s in the best interest of Portlanders to have that continuity for our first two years, it’d be an honor to be able to wrap up some of that work that we started next year.”

The campaign to unseat Pirtle-Guiney comes from members of council’s more progressive caucus, called the “Peacock.”

Koyama Lane says her experience working closely with Pirtle-Guiney as council vice president inspired her drive to replace her. She said she wants a council president who is focused on sharing power, not consolidating it.

“Leadership roles belong to the body as a whole, not any one individual,” Koyama Lane said. “Sharing leadership builds trust, accountability, and keeps power from becoming too concentrated with any one person.”

Dissatisfaction with Pirtle-Guiney’s leadership was on full display during last year’s budget sessions, where progressive council members teamed up to advance budget proposals that Pirtle-Guiney had cut from the agenda due to time constraints.

Concerns aren’t limited to the six-person progressive caucus. At least two other councilors have expressed similar frustration with her management style to OPB.

Koyama Lane and others see Kanal, a fellow Peacock, as a better leader. Kanal, who has regularly called for more councilor input on leadership decisions in council, is up to the task.

In a statement sent to OPB, he said City Hall needs a council president “who will empower both the council and individual councilors, prioritize effective agenda-setting and strategic planning, and ensure efficient information-sharing so that we can get things done that Portlanders want and expect.”

He continued: “We have big issues that Council didn’t schedule enough time to tackle last year -- issues like downtown, our revenue situation, and affordability -- and we need a Council President that will ensure our processes enable our City’s progress.”

Kanal, who also represents District 2 alongside Pirtle-Guiney, said that if elected, he would step back from his involvement with the progressive caucus to focus on “good governance.”

A candidate must receive seven votes to be elected president. It’s not clear if Kanal has the votes to dethrone Pirtle-Guiney.

Councilors will meet to vote on their president at 9:30 a.m.