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Good morning, Northwest.
Portland is just weeks away from its second ranked choice election for City Council. It’s the first time incumbents are running for reelection under the new form of government, which has created a lot of unknowns.
OPB reporter Alex Zielinski previews the race for six open Portland City Council seats to start today’s newsletter.
A note that a story about the Pendleton Round-up in Wednesday’s First Look misspelled Ben Maney’s name in a photo caption. OPB regrets the error.
Here’s your First Look at Friday’s news.
— Bradley W. Parks
Top story
Portland City Hall in downtown Portland, Ore., on July 9, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
Unknowns prevail as candidates head into Portland’s second ranked choice council election
Portland’s 2024 City Council election was like nothing the city had ever experienced: 12 open seats for a new legislative body split into four districts, 98 candidates and a brand-new ranked choice voting system. Candidates had little direction on how to run a successful campaign and learned what worked — or didn’t — on the fly.
Two years later, half of the seats are back on the ballot. This time, candidates have a recent election to study, but they still can’t be sure what the lessons are.
OPB spoke with more than a dozen candidates, campaign advocacy groups, academics and other local politics watchers about the Nov. 3 council election. Some have strong hunches about how the races will play out.
But across those conversations, uncertainty ruled the day. (Alex Zielinski)
3 things to know
A police officer walks behind crime tape outside the Chestnut Tree Inn in Portland, Ore., Sept. 24, 2026.
Eli Imadali / OPB
- A homicide suspect is dead following a shooting in Southeast Portland yesterday, where more than 40 emergency units responded to the scene. The suspect and a Portland Police Bureau K-9 both died during the incident. (Troy Brynelson and Joni Auden Land)
- It wasn’t a debate, but Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and state Sen. Christine Drazan faced off at a business forum yesterday afternoon to talk about taxes, tariffs and how to make the state more economically competitive. (Lauren Dake)
- Members of the Central Oregon Community College Faculty Forum voted nearly unanimously this week to authorize a strike. (Natalie Pate)
Northwest headlines
FILE - A wild sea otter swims as he snacks on seaweed covered with roe.
Ian McCluskey
- Portland declares 9/25 Dolly Parton Day, a nod to ‘9 to 5’ (Casey Frizzell)
- Elakha Alliance, Oregon Coast Aquarium join Seattle groups to study Oregon seafloor for sea otter reintroduction (Dana Tims, Lincoln Chronicle)
- Washington voters of color more likely to have ballots challenged, per report (Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard)
- Abiqua Falls is one step closer to becoming public land after $2 million sale approved (Mia Maldonado, Oregon Capital Chronicle)
- Oregon lawmakers could ban Flock, automated license plate reading cameras in 2027 (Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle)
- ‘Better than before’: Washington reopens historic Capitol campus building (Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard)
- Tiny home village for homeless seniors coming to Grants Pass (Jane Vaughan, JPR)
Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation
“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):
- ‘The Big M’ features essays from women in Oregon and elsewhere sharing their menopause stories
One more look
Is Thai pumpkin red curry actually a Mexican dish?
Heather Arndt Anderson / OPB
Superabundant asks: Is Thai pumpkin curry actually a Mexican dish?
By some expert accounts, curry didn’t exist before the chile was brought to the Indian subcontinent. Isn’t that wild?
Before the Columbian exchange, there was no potato for the aloo gobi, no tomato for the tikka masala. Cooks in the Indian subcontinent obviously had their own spices to work with, but before the chile arrived in the early 16th century, the end result just wasn’t curry.
Mole, however, existed long before the first Europeans set foot in the New World — so does that make mole curry’s ancestor?
This week’s Superabundant newsletter takes a closer look with this Mexican pumpkin red curry. (Heather Arndt Anderson)
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