Analyses

Finished pieces that read one question out of the primary record. Every figure is cited to the filing or public document it came from, the caveats that qualify it are stated in the piece rather than left out, and the queries behind it are open source. Each analysis opens as its own document.

The District 4 money ceiling

Published 13 August 2026

Portland's Small Donor Elections program releases public matching funds by qualifying-donor count rather than by dollars raised. Three of the leading District 4 candidates have earned more match than the city will pay them and sit pinned at $100,000. Net of that public money, the four returning candidates are separated by less than $30,000. Read from ORESTAR campaign finance filings, as a companion to Maja Viklands Harris's account of the 2024 race in Rose City Reform.