'Uniquely unfit': PAC urges Portland voters to avoid ranking Rene Gonzalez
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Whether you've seen it on stickers around Portland or on social media, a new PAC against Portland mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez has been making waves in the city.
In their own words, the Don't Rank Rene PAC, which was recently featured in Axios Portland, is about more than just stopping a candidate who they say is unfit for office, it's also about educating voters on the ranked-choice voting system that Portland is using for the first time.
"We just want to make sure that voters understand his record, which we believe makes him unfit, but we also want voters in this new system of voting, of ranked-choice voting that we are about to go into to know that if you don't support his candidacy, or any other candidates candidacy, to not rank them at all because ranking them last can help them win," Stephen Gomez, treasurer for the Don't Rank Rene PAC, told KOIN 6 on Friday.
According to Gomez, the PAC is small, just made up of a few people who have known each other for years, and while they may not agree on who should be mayor, they are all united against Gonzalez.
"We all agreed that Rene Gonzalez is uniquely unfit to be our next mayor," Gomez said. "We don't all necessarily agree on who we are going to vote for individually and we felt like we needed to do more than just talk about that."
The PAC may be small, but it has already received sizable contributions, including unions like SEIU Local 49 which gave $51,000, and even other PACs like Progressive Voice for Oregon, which gave over $70,000, according to the Secretary of State website.
For the members of the Don't Rank Rene PAC, they cite numerous reasons why they don't think Gonzalez should be mayor, including several recent events including two campaign finance violations, his handling of Portland's homeless situation and the time he claimed he was "accosted" on a TriMet MAX, despite video evidence showing otherwise.
When asked about the PAC during an interview, Gonzalez told KOIN 6 that he's become accustomed to this kind of opposition, but that it isn't swaying his focus from where it has always been.
"These are the entrenched forces that resent that I took down Jo Ann Hardesty in 2022," Gonzalez said. "They resent that I center things so clearly on core citizens, on families, on elders instead of their ideological agendas. It has been part of my experience in public life that they've come after me but I've been unbending and I will continue to fight for those components of our city that've really been neglected by the political process recently.
Gonzalez went on to say that while he isn't surprised by the PAC, he is disappointed by some of the larger support that it has been receiving.
"I'm not surprised by it at all," Gonzalez added. "Disappointed that some large organizations get involved in that, but I like where I sit with voters."