Washington County · November 3, 2026

Portland City Council, District 4 Commissioner

2
Candidates: 1
Seats: Vote for one
Method: Nov 3
Due 8 p.m.

Western Washington County: Banks, North Plains, Forest Grove, Cornelius, Gaston and much of the county’s rural area. Some cities are split between districts; use the lookup link.Western Washington CountyNot yours? County Chair

Our readingDraft

One candidate would end data-center tax breaks and halt expansion onto farmland outright; the other promises careful, project-by-project evaluation without a categorical commitment. The choice is between a fixed rule and case-by-case judgment on the county’s biggest land-use question.

2 candidates, A–Z. Tap any position to read the sentence, how they would deliver it, and the source.

6 more choices, below6 more choices

Where each candidate stands on four issues, in our short reading of their statements. Each position is a button; activate it to read the sentence, how they would deliver it, and the source. Candidates appear alphabetically.
Candidate	2 of 2 documented	2 of 2 documented	2 of 2 documented	2 of 2 documented	Save to my ballot
Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader	Homes	Safety	Money	Roads
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal	Homes	Safety	Money	Roads

What this office decides right now

What’s at stake

District 4 covers Banks, North Plains, Forest Grove, Cornelius, Gaston and much of the county's rural area, and its commissioner casts one of five votes on the $2.1 billion budget, the land-use code for unincorporated areas and any data-center moratorium. The seat is open, and the term starts with the urban-growth and enterprise-zone questions that Hillsboro's fights have pushed onto the county.

Each of this office’s 6 live choices is a board below, with every candidate’s stated position or the gap.

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%.
Five years of cuts
In June 2025 the Board closed a $20.5 million General Fund gap for FY 2025-26, the fifth straight year of reductions; the county says the temporary balancing tools of earlier years are used up and Oregon's 1990s property-tax limits keep the structural gap in place.
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.
Hillsboro's moratorium
Hillsboro counts 23 data-center sites, 16 built on 346 acres and 7 in permitting or construction on 224 acres, and as of March 2025 had 33 data-center sites among 50 active enterprise-zone agreements; it enacted a 120-day moratorium on new applications July 27, 2026 and takes a first code amendment to its council October 6.
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.
Farmland bill shelved
SB 1586 would have put 373 acres of rural land south of U.S. 26 inside Hillsboro's urban growth boundary and designated about 1,400 acres for future industry, with data centers as accessory uses; Sen. Janeen Sollman dropped it in March 2026 after extended testimony from farmers, residents and land-use groups.
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.

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.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
Moratorium petition
Said: What they said
Petitions the county Board, city councils and legislators for a moratorium on new data centers, citing residential power rates, school revenue lost to abatements and water use.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
Case-by-case evaluation
Said: What they said
Would carefully evaluate major developments like data centers for their impacts on residents, communities and quality of life; a pause on permits is not mentioned.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid. Our paraphrase.

Data-center tax breaksEnd the enterprise-zone property-tax exemptions for Hillsboro data centers, which the county assessor co-authorizes?2 of 2 on record

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.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
End the tax breaks
Said: What they said
Would end data-center tax breaks and tax existing facilities; says she called for a moratorium and took legal action with the teachers' association after administrators granted breaks to 17 data centers.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
Abatements are city-level
Said: What they said
Told the April 24 forum the key tax abatements are controlled at the city level, with the county responsible for infrastructure costs, zoning and broader impacts; whether to end them is unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid. Our paraphrase.

Vehicle fee increaseDouble the county vehicle registration fee, from $30 to $60 a year by 2031, to pay for roads?0 of 2 on recordNot found: Kipperlyn Sinclair, Steve Callaway

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.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
Not found
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed; a research gap, not a position.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
Not found
Nothing on this exact choice in the sources we reviewed; a research gap, not a position.

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%.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
Tax data centers instead
Said: What they said
Would tax existing data-center facilities and end their abatements to shrink a deficit she puts at $20.5 million, saying working families should not bear the burden; other fees or levies are unsaid.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
Cuts and revenue both
Said: What they said
Would consider both incremental and large cuts, weighing programs due to sunset, and would consider raising revenue but does not yet know by which means.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.

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.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
Codify sanctuary locally
Said: What they said
Told the April 24 forum she supports codifying Oregon's sanctuary policies locally and more transparency about immigration enforcement activity; the emergency declaration and county aid are unsaid.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid. Our paraphrase.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
Supports the declaration
Said: What they said
Supports the county's emergency declaration and its accompanying actions, and as commissioner would seek assurances that county staff adhere to Oregon's sanctuary law.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.

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.

Kipperlyn SinclairHillsboro councilor and local-food business leader
Testified against SB 1586
Said: What they said
Says she was the only city councilor in the county to testify in Salem against SB 1586, and would protect prime farmland from corporate sprawl.
Our paraphrase of the candidate’s statement.
Steve CallawayFormer Hillsboro mayor and principal
State-level reform first
Said: What they said
Says 2014 legislation removed chunks of the county's urban reserves and a broader state-level conversation on modernizing land use must come before the county changes its approach; SB 1586 is unnamed.
On the topic; the exact choice is unsaid. Our paraphrase.

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.
Social housing: 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.