Bend Mayor elect Sally Russell celebrates with supporters on Nov. 6, 2018
Emily Cureton / OPB
Sally Russell led in early results to be Bend's next mayor, the first person directly elected to that job in nearly a century.
Russell led a crowded non-partisan race by a 9 percentage point margin, with just under 51 percent of the vote. She was the only woman on the ticket. She’s served on the Bend City Council since 2012. Before that she was on the city’s Planning Commission for nearly a decade.
"I’m thrilled and overwhelmed, and I am in awe that so many people in this community have stepped up to support me and … believed in my vision for Bend," Russell said at her victory party in downtown Bend.
Fellow city councilor Bill Moseley was in second, with 41 percent of the vote.
Four other candidates also garnered votes — Charles Baer, 0.71 percent; Brian Douglass, 3.41 percent; Michael Hughes, 1.99 percent; and Joshua Langlais, 1.71 percent.
Russell campaigned on promises of leading the city to develop more transportation and housing choices, with an emphasis on neighborhood planning and expanding the public process for all large community decisions.
Bendites voted to change the city charter earlier this year, rather than allowing the City Council continue to appoint a mayor. But, even with a voter-mandated title, mayoral powers will remain about the same as other city councilors, except the mayor will make committee appointments, run the meetings and be the face of the city.
The city still runs under a professional city manager with departmental staff. The shift in governing structure comes in step with Bend's surging population and development. It's now the fastest-growing large city on the West Coast, according to the latest census data.
