Portland Councilor Dunphy wins council president seat after deadlocked votes

The Portland City Council has elected Councilor Jamie Dunphy as its council president for 2026.

“I will use this role to distribute power, not consolidate it,” said Dunphy, who represents East Portland neighborhoods in District 1. “To build systems that treat each of us the same and protect this council as an equitable body for our colleagues and our constituents.”

Dunphy won with a vote of 9-3. He was nominated after more than 10 hours of tense, heated debate that tested the 12 councilors’ ability to compromise on key issues.

The process, spread out over three council meetings, included more than a dozen rounds of deadlocked 6-6 voting.

Dunphy was not an early candidate for the role. Last week’s votes were divided between Councilor Sameer Kanal and Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who had the role for all of 2025.

Kanal is a member of the city’s progressive caucus, which is nicknamed “Peacock.” He drew support from the council’s fellow left-leaning members, with Pirtle-Guiney collecting votes from the six more moderate councilors.

After the stalemate reached into a second day, councilors began proposing other candidates to move the vote forward. Dunphy was one of those compromise candidates. He won votes from all six progressive councilors, including himself and Pirtle-Guiney.

Dunphy has been explicit in the past about not wanting a leadership role on the council.

“This is not something that I have been seeking,” Dunphy said. “And is not something I am excited about. But if the only way out of an entrenched 6-6 stalemate is for me to step into this role, then I’m willing — not happy, but willing — to do this in service of this institution.”

Councilors from across the city’s dais said this made him right for the job.

“Councilor Dunphy, you’re a reluctant hero, and I think sometimes that’s the type of person that is best suited for power, someone who doesn’t strive to have it,” said Councilor Angelita Morillo.

“I appreciate your reluctance, and I appreciate the way you show up,” Councilor Olivia Clark told Dunphy, before voting to elect him. “I think it’s really important.”

Despite his hesitancy, Dunphy has spent time thinking about council management over the past year.

In July, Dunphy floated a plan to condense the city’s eight current policy committees into five, in hopes of expediting the council’s work. That includes a so-called “Committee of the Whole,” which every councilor would sit on to make more administrative and operational decisions once a month. At the time, that proposal stalled after disagreement among councilors.

On Wednesday, Dunphy said he’d bring back these reforms as president. As president, Dunphy will be expected to oversee council meetings and appoint leaders to city committees.

The role also calls Dunphy to act as a go-between for city council and the mayor’s office, and he will be expected to work closely with Mayor Keith Wilson to keep the city’s executive and legislative branches operating smoothly.

Dunphy has created distance between himself and Wilson in the past year, often criticizing the mayor’s homelessness plan and suggesting alternative solutions to the city’s homeless crisis.

Dunphy pledged on Wednesday to step back from his work on the city’s progressive caucus, after several councilors raised concerns about preferential treatment toward that group. And, Dunphy added, he won’t be seeking re-election for the position next year.

Wednesdays vote for council president followed hours of debate that splintered councilors. The marathon debate over the deadlocked vote turned personal as several progressive councilors accused Pirtle-Guiney of racism, and moderate members accused Kanal of having a “juvenile” leadership style.

These issues came up again Wednesday morning after The Portland Mercury reported on how some political organizers shared racist text messages about councilors during last week’s council meeting.

Before being elected president, Dunphy said the entire discussion had “hurt his heart.” He said the role of the president sets the tone and culture for how the council governs — and he hopes to share that role with his colleagues.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make this position less powerful and more of a facilitative role,” he said.

In the 13th and final round of voting, Dunphy was elected by Councilors Morillo, Kanal, Pirtle-Guiney, Clark, Tiffany Koyama-Lane, Candace Avalos, Mitch Green, Eric Zimmerman and himself. Councilors Loretta Smith and Dan Ryan voted for Councilor Steve Novick. Novick voted for Pirtle-Guiney.

Dunphy had little time to prepare before stepping into the role. Twenty minutes after his election, Dunphy had put on a blazer and moved to the middle seat at the council dais, wielding a gavel.

“I’m going to take a moment just to say — I will earn the trust of my colleagues,” Dunphy said after starting the afternoon council meeting. “I am so grateful to be the first city council president representing East Portland. This is going to be a hard year, and I need all of you, and I will do my best, and I will make mistakes. We’ll work with each of you to find what is best for the city.”

The first order of business: electing a council vice president.

The election was far less contentious than the president’s vote. Former vice president Koyama Lane nominated Clark for the role. Clark, who represents Portland’s westside and inner southeast for District 4, was elected nearly unanimously. Councilor Smith was the sole councilor to vote in opposition. There were no other nominees.

Clark also said she was hesitant to accept her new role.

“Like our council president, I am a reluctant recruit,” Clark said. “This is not something I sought or wanted. But I am willing to serve. I will just say that I ran because I thought we needed people with experience on the new council to make this form of government work. My goal is to make this form of government work.”