Washington County · November 3, 2026
Portland City Council, County Chair
- 2
- Candidates
- 1
- Seats
- Vote for one
- Method
- Nov 3
- Due 8 p.m.
Our readingDraft
Both candidates promise affordability and safety. The difference is the route: one leans on tax restraint and business growth, the other on housing and treatment investment funded partly by larger contributions from data centers. Ask which services each would protect first.
| Candidate | 2 of 2 documented | 2 of 2 documented | 2 of 2 documented | 2 of 2 documented | Save to my ballot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Homes | Safety | Money | Roads | |
 | Homes | Safety | Money | Roads |
What this office decides right now
What’s at stake
The chair is elected countywide and presides over the five-member Board, which adopts the $2.1 billion budget, writes land-use rules for unincorporated areas and funds the sheriff, public health and housing programs. The next chair takes an office left vacant in October, a General Fund balanced with one-time growth, and unfinished fights over data centers, immigration enforcement and road money.
Each of this office’s 6 live choices is a board below, with every candidate’s stated position or the gap.
Vacant chair's office
Chair Kathryn Harrington resigns effective October 2, 2026 and will no longer facilitate Board meetings; Vice Chair Jerry Willey presides, with Jason Snider as chair pro tem, until the chair elected November 3 is sworn in on January 3, 2027.
Balanced on one-time growth
The $2.1 billion FY 2026-27 budget approved June 16, 2026 needed only minimal cuts after five straight years of reductions, helped by about $6.2 million in General Fund savings and one-time 11% assessed-value growth from Hillsboro industrial property; the county expects growth to return to about 4.5%.
Data centers outside cities
Staff told the Board on September 1, 2026 that unincorporated Washington County has no large standalone data centers, no pending applications and rural rules that already bar them, and that a state-law moratorium can run 120 days plus one six-month extension.
No county pause adopted
Reporting on the September 1 session says the Board declined a formal moratorium, agreed to draft a resolution acknowledging public concern and called the result a de facto moratorium; only eight parcels met the industrial criteria and all are already developed.
Tax-break lawsuit
1000 Friends of Oregon, the Oregon Education Association and Hillsboro Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair sued the city and the county in June 2026 over spring approvals of enterprise-zone exemptions for data centers tied to NVIDIA, CoreWeave, Adobe, Dropbox, QTS and Flexential, granted before the statewide pause took effect June 6.
Vehicle fee doubles
Ordinance 917, adopted 3–1 on August 25, 2026 with the chair abstaining, phases the county vehicle registration fee from $30 to $40 in July 2027, $50 in 2029 and $60 in 2031 for road projects; Fai cast the no vote and cities share 40% of the money.
Emergency reserves spent
On November 4, 2025 the Board declared two emergencies 5–0, taking $200,000 from contingency for residents affected by federal immigration enforcement and $250,000 for food banks during the SNAP disruption; both draws must be replenished in the FY 2026-27 budget.
Public safety levy
Voters approved a replacement Public Safety Levy in November 2025 whose first year began July 1, 2026; the FY 2026-27 budget uses it to restore 11 Sheriff's Office positions cut from the General Fund and to fund 8 District Attorney positions, while the General Fund still supplies about 68% of public-safety spending.
Where they stand · six more choices
Six choices Washington County faces
One question at a time: every candidate’s answer, A–Z, with its source. Open all to see who has said nothing about what.
Data-center pausePause new data-center permits under the county's own authority until their impacts are studied?2 of 2 on record
Commissioner Fai proposed a county pause on August 25, 2026. Staff told the Board's September 1 work session that unincorporated Washington County has no large standalone data centers, no pending applications and rural rules that already bar them; Hillsboro, which counts 23 data-center sites on about 570 acres, enacted its own 120-day moratorium on July 27, 2026.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundProposed county pause
Said: What they said
Announced on August 25, 2026 a proposal to pause new data-center and AI-facility permits under county and Clean Water Services authority, saying the county should understand the complete picture before approving more.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundNo more, if avoidable
Said: What they said
Told KGW she is not in favor of any more data centers in the county if that can be avoided, while noting the commission's land-use reach is unincorporated land and the major projects sit in Hillsboro.
Data-center tax breaksEnd the enterprise-zone property-tax exemptions for Hillsboro data centers, which the county assessor co-authorizes?1 of 2 on recordNot found: Pam Treece
Hillsboro counted 33 data-center sites among its 50 active enterprise-zone agreements as of March 2025, and says 15 more data-center applications were approved after March 2026, before the Legislature's HB 4084 pause took effect June 6, 2026. A June 2026 lawsuit by 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Oregon Education Association and Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair names both the city and the county.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundData centers pay more
Said: What they said
Says as chair she will make data centers pay their fair share and safeguard tax dollars; whether the enterprise-zone exemptions should end is unsaid.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundNot found
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed; a research gap, not a position.
Vehicle fee increaseDouble the county vehicle registration fee, from $30 to $60 a year by 2031, to pay for roads?2 of 2 on record
Ordinance 917, adopted 3–1 on August 25, 2026 with the chair abstaining, raises the fee to $40 in July 2027, $50 in 2029 and $60 in 2031; the county keeps 60% and cities share 40%, and the county's share is projected to reach $20.6 million a year at the full rate.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundVoted no on fee
What they did
Cast the only no vote on August 25, 2026 against Ordinance 917, which phases the county fee from $30 to $60 a year by 2031; Treece, Snider and Willey voted yes and the chair abstained.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundVoted for fee increase
What they did
Voted on August 25, 2026 for Ordinance 917, phasing the county fee from $30 to $60 a year by 2031 for road projects, after declaring the fee would also apply to her own vehicles; Fai voted no.
Budget gapClose the county's recurring General Fund gap with new fees or levies rather than cuts alone?2 of 2 on record
The county closed a $20.5 million General Fund gap in FY 2025-26 after five straight years of reductions. The $2.1 billion FY 2026-27 budget adopted June 16, 2026 needed only minimal cuts, helped by one-time 11% assessed-value growth from Hillsboro industrial property that the county expects to fall back to about 4.5%.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundFees and levies
Said: What they said
Would update service fees and consider local option levies for public safety and libraries to close a gap she puts at $20.5 million, while protecting funding for housing, transit and health care.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundTaxes a last resort
Said: What they said
Says new taxes would be a last resort given economic strain, to be weighed against critical services that may have to be cut; puts past General Fund cuts at $98 million and would lean on economic development.
ICE emergency responseKeep declaring emergencies and spending county reserves to help families hit by federal immigration enforcement?2 of 2 on record
On November 4, 2025 the Board voted 5–0 for Resolution and Order 25-72, declaring an emergency over federal immigration enforcement and taking $200,000 from contingency for community aid, after more than 135 ICE arrests in the county in October 2025; the reserve must be refilled in the FY 2026-27 budget.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundMoved the declaration
What they did
Moved and voted for the November 4, 2025 emergency declaration and $200,000 in contingency aid, telling the Board the amounts are not enough and she will keep pushing for additional measures.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundVoted for declaration
What they did
Voted for the November 4, 2025 declaration and $200,000 in aid, thanking the colleagues who drafted it and criticizing federal enforcement actions in the county.
Farmland for industryBring farmland north of Hillsboro into the urban growth boundary for industry, as Senate Bill 1586 proposed?2 of 2 on record
SB 1586 would have added 373 acres to Hillsboro's urban growth boundary and lined up about 1,400 more acres for future industrial use, with data centers allowed as accessory uses; Sen. Janeen Sollman shelved it in early March 2026 after farmers, residents and land-use groups objected. Metro and the cities, not the county alone, set the boundary.
- Nafisa FaiCounty commissioner; public-health backgroundGrow inside the UGB
Said: What they said
Says the county is not yet striking the right balance; would focus development inside existing urban growth boundaries, build on industrial land already zoned and push for a statewide industrial-land inventory. SB 1586 is unnamed.
- Pam TreeceCounty commissioner; economic-development backgroundCareful planning with Metro
Said: What they said
Says county land is precious and attracting high-paying jobs while protecting farms and forests will take careful planning with Metro and the cities, which set the boundary; takes no position on SB 1586's acreage.
About this race
How to vote
You vote for one candidate. The county elections office lists this seat as a runoff election. How it works
Ballots mail Oct 14 · return by 8 p.m. Nov 3
What this office can do
Commissioners adopt county budgets and policies. They share authority as a board; one commissioner cannot enact a proposal alone.
How this list was made
Same questions for everyone, A–Z. Each chip is our short reading of a sourced statement; we do not endorse, rank or score.
Reviewed September 18, 2026 · lines 2026-09-19.1 · AI-assisted, human review pending
Terms explained
- Amendment
- A proposed change to a measure before the final vote. Voting for an amendment is not the same as voting for the whole measure.
- Supplemental budget
- A mid-year change to the city budget after the main budget is adopted.
- Appropriation
- Permission to spend money on something. It does not mean the money has been spent or the result achieved.
- PCEF
- The Portland Clean Energy Fund: a tax on large retailers that pays for climate projects. Council has debated using its interest for other services.
- Term sheet
- Starting terms for a negotiation. Approving one is not a final contract.
- Housing owned by the public or a nonprofit and rented at controlled prices.
- CEI Hub
- The fuel-storage area along the Willamette in Northwest Portland, where Zenith Energy operates.
- Ranked choice
- You rank candidates in order. If your first choice is eliminated or already elected, your vote counts toward your next choice.