For more of KLCC's coverage of the 2024 elections, visit our Elections page.
All nine seats on the Corvallis City Council are on the ballot in the Nov. 5 election.
All but three of the seats are contested. A couple of them have three candidates. Meanwhile, six of the people running are part of a political alliance focused on housing and environmental issues.
To learn more about the candidates and issues involved in the council races, KLCC’s Rachael McDonald reached out to Corvallis Gazette-Times reporter Ella Hutcherson.
Rachael McDonald: Corvallis voters have a lot to consider in this election. How common is it to have so many contested City Council seats on the ballot?
Ella Hutcherson: It's not common. Even for Corvallis, this is a stacked roster. I've been told that it's the largest volume of candidates in the last decade. But there are some things to consider about the Corvallis City Council. First of all, there are nine council seats which is substantial for a city of its size, and on top of that, their terms are two-year terms. It’s one of few cities in Oregon that has two-year terms for city council. More common is four-year terms. So that's a quick turnaround. And some incumbents expressed to me feeling like that's not enough time to finish what they want to get started. So that brings them to run again. But yeah, in terms of the number of contested seats and even in the case of some wards, the number of candidates in those contested seats, "common" is probably not the word.
McDonald: A half-dozen candidates are part of an organization called Sunrise Corvallis. What can you tell us about the organization and the candidates they’re fielding?
Hutcherson: So, Sunrise Corvallis is a chapter of a national movement that's focused on climate advocacy and getting young people involved in climate organizing. Sunrise Corvallis was instrumental in getting a local iteration of the Green New Deal passed in Corvallis in 2022.
And they're now getting involved on the municipal level and they're hoping to kind of change the makeup of the council and make some of the tangible changes that they want to see for the city, kind of through that avenue. Five of the six candidates are in their twenties. Two of them are students. At this point, I've spoken to all of them. And they are very passionate, they're very excited and for the most part, they're very detail oriented about the how and the why of what they would like to see. So their goals include expanding climate policy, tackling climate change on the local level. They're also interested in stopping the sweeps of homeless encampments, ensuring safe and affordable housing and even instituting something called a tenant's bill of rights which lays out explicit protections for renters.
McDonald: Several of the Sunrise candidates are taking on incumbents. What are the incumbents saying about this slate of challengers?
Hutcherson: So I've spoken to three of the four of those incumbents about the slate and only two really in depth. But I would say that it's sort of a mixed bag in terms of reaction and not necessarily super positive or super negative. One candidate that I spoke with said that he kind of had no opinion on the slate and was more focused on the issues that are facing Corvallis and more focused on his constituents and his election. Another that I spoke to, she had some criticisms of the process of passing the Green New Deal back in 2022 with Sunrise Corvallis. She was on council during that time. But she was very complimentary of the fact that they're excited and eager and young. She liked that.
And then a third candidate mentioned to me just kind of off the cuff: ‘Oh, you know, I think that climate is an important issue, but it's not the only issue facing Corvallis,’ and that I think is kind of I'm getting the sense that that's kind of perhaps a misconception about the slate is that they are focused entirely on climate. And, that's not really the case.
McDonald: One incumbent council member was the target of an unsuccessful attempt by other councilors to remove her from office. And as it turns out, she’s now the only incumbent who isn’t facing a challenger. Do you have any updates on that situation?
Corvallis housing and rent prices have been increasing for several years and the city is consistently ranked as the most rent burdened in the state.
Hutcherson: I don't have much. There is an active lawsuit that the incumbent in question, Charlyn Ellis, has leveled against the city. But "active" is not maybe necessarily a good word to describe the level of activity that is actually happening. So we're keeping an eye on it and keeping an eye out for changes, but there just isn't a ton of inertia at the moment. And I think there is also a general belief and understanding that because Ellis is running unopposed the issue will by and large become moot when she wins. But ultimately, it is her lawsuit against the city and I know that she is still interested in hearing what a judge has to say. So we will see what happens.
McDonald: This will be the second time that the City of Corvallis will use ranked choice voting to select city council members. How is that affecting the campaigns of the candidates?
Hutcherson: So there's two wards, two of the nine, that have three candidates and will therefore be subject to rank choice voting. I've heard from a few folks in this election that they felt it was important that voters had options. And one person I spoke to who was in one of those three candidate races said that she was really excited and happy to be involved in a race where voters have, you know, multiple options. But as for impacts on the campaign themselves, I don't know that I've necessarily seen anything that indicates a different approach in these specific wards. But I will definitely be keeping my eye out as I continue following this election.
McDonald: What are some of the main issues council candidates are talking about?
Hutcherson: Housing is above and beyond number one. Corvallis housing and rent prices have been increasing for several years and the city is consistently ranked as the most rent-burdened in the state.
So I think almost everyone is thinking really deeply and carefully about how to bring more housing to Corvallis, specifically more affordable housing. Homelessness is also a hot button topic and there's some variety as to what the appropriate approach to the issue is. But again, housing is intrinsically linked with that issue. So it comes up again and again. There's also been conversation among the existing council about climate as a priority and with the slate's presence in this election, I have been asking candidates about how much, or how little, a local government should do to address such a massive issue. But I will say that the entire roster skews liberal in terms of their beliefs and their policies. And, because of that, I think that there is a lot of common ground, or at least a lot of big picture agreement about what the issues are. It's just a matter of, I think the minutia, how exactly do we tackle these issues where people kind of take different tacks.
Ella Hutcherson is a reporter for the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
