Op-Ed PDF

candidate, and instead nominated Edgar Brown as the presumptive nominee. He had been a senator for
long period of time, and the democratic committee decided he would be the best fit as the general
election nominee (Senate, 2019).
The public was upset that the decision was up to the democratic committee and not the public at
the voting booth. In response, former Governor Strom Thurmund announced he was running as a write
in candidate and in November 1954, be won with 63% of the vote, becoming the first person to be
voted into the US senate through a write in. More recently, in 2011, Lisa Murkowski won her senate
seat as a write-in candidate after losing the primary by a small margin (Bolstad, 2011).
So, do we write-in a well qualified candidate, or do we go with a “safer” progressive choice
Sarah Iannarone? Something I have been mulling over is trying to understand if my vote would
essentially end up being a vote for Ted Wheeler AKA “Tear Gas Teddy.” This may not be the case. A
June 24 th , 2020 poll shows one-third of Portland voters are unsure who to choose for Mayor. 61%
Uncertain of Sarah, 41% Approval of Ted, and 35% Undecided (Bailey, 2020). Teressa also has strong
support from the community including Damian Lillard, Congressional candidate Albert Lee, Kee’s
Loaded Kitchen, The Kiki House of Flora, and community activists who have all committed to write in
Teressa’s name on their ballot (BITCH politics, 2020).
As of August 27th, 2020, 3,515 Portlander’s have signed their name committing to writing in
Teressa Raiford (BITCH politics, 2020). After understanding more about successful write-in
candidate's and knowing Portland would be in the hands of a candidate who has plans to divest,
demiliterize, and defund the police, I feel I have no choice but to vote for Teressa Raiford. Just as
we've seen write-in candidate succeed in the past, I will be putting my time, energy, effort, and hope
into electing the right choice for Portland mayor: Teressa Raiford.