Candidates seeking seats on the Washington County Commission say the Nov. 3 runoff arrives at a pivotal moment, with an affordability crisis and a backlash over data center expansion roiling Oregon's Silicon Forest. All four contenders, two running for commission chair and two for District 4, bring years of elected experience and earned enough votes in the May primary to advance.
In the chair race, fellow commissioners Nafisa Fai and Pam Treece are competing to replace Kathryn Harrington, who recently resigned. Treece called it an important election for the county, "but also for the region and the state." Fai said the races "will determine whether the county stays a county where everyone feels like they have the freedom to thrive."
The contest has featured surprises in its final weeks. In September, Treece was forced to reject Harrington's endorsement and return her $10,000 donation after the chair made an obscene gesture at Fai during a public meeting. Earlier in October, Fai's campaign was caught up in a scandal involving an upside-down American flag. The week after the gesture, Fai said, "We need to move beyond the status quo." Treece, asked about her leadership philosophy, told OPB the commission needs a culture of respect. "Right now, what we need is a stable, experienced leader in Washington County as the chair," she said. "We've been through a lot of chaos."
Fai was first elected in 2020, becoming the first person of color to serve on the board of commissioners in Oregon's most diverse county, and won reelection in 2024. A refugee from Somalia who came to the United States as a child, she has lived in Oregon for three decades and worked in public health with the American Red Cross, Upstream Public Health and the Public Health Institute. Treece was elected in 2018, the first person in over 30 years to oust an incumbent county commissioner. Born in Portland, she has lived in Washington County for 30 years, began her career as a teacher in Clackamas County and later worked as an executive at Pacific Power and the Westside Economic Alliance.
In the May primary, Fai finished with 39% of the vote to Treece's 33%, with Republican Jenny Kamprath taking 27%. Fai, who has aligned with other progressive candidates over the past year, is backed by the county Democratic Party, local public employees unions, the Jane Fonda Climate PAC and former Gov. John Kitzhaber. Her campaign had raised just over $182,000 since the primary as of Oct. 27, including $25,000 from AFSCME, her largest contribution. Treece, like other more moderate candidates on the November ballot, has the endorsement of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, along with local firefighters and police unions, several mayors and the county's other two commissioners. She had raised over $275,000 as of Oct. 27, with major donations from Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle ($40,000), the chamber ($25,000) and Las Vegas management executive Jeff Swickard ($25,000).
Both candidates list affordability among the top concerns they hear from voters. Treece acknowledged the commission cannot bring down gas or grocery prices and said it should focus on developing a skilled workforce and creating jobs. "My economic development background, that's what makes me the strongest candidate," she said. Fai said she has also heard concerns, particularly in the western half of the county, about preserving its agricultural roots, a long-running flashpoint over whether land should be protected for farming or developed for the tech industry.
Fai has positioned herself as the race's staunchest opponent of data centers. She proposed a county moratorium in September, which the commission did not support, but this week commissioners adopted a resolution acknowledging community concerns and supporting moratoriums and regulations under consideration by cities such as Hillsboro. Treece told OPB she believes the county does not need to continue building data centers.
Making her closing case, Fai pointed to a record that includes building sidewalks, helping pass a ban on flavored tobacco products, working with Aloha Methodist Church to build a new homeless pod village, declaring a state of emergency over immigration enforcement and defending the county's DEI policies under pressure from the Trump administration. "I hope people will see clearly that I spent my whole career leading with courage and that I've been fostering collaboration," she said. Treece stressed her economic development experience and her endorsement from 10 of the county's mayors. "The economic growth and the things that happen to really grow our base happen in the cities," she said. "I need to, as chair, be able to work with all those mayors. Any chair does."
In District 4, which stretches from Hillsboro across Forest Grove, North Plains and Banks to the county's northwest corner, former Hillsboro Mayor Steve Callaway faces current Hillsboro City Councilor Kipperlyn Sinclair. Callaway, a former administrator in the Banks and Hillsboro school districts, served 14 years on the Hillsboro City Council as councilor and mayor. Sinclair moved to Washington County in 1994, sold salsa made with her grandmother's recipe at local farmers markets and went on to start the farm to table initiative Eat Drink Washington County. She served on the city's planning commission before her election to the council in 2022, and her term expires at the end of this year.
Callaway's campaign is backed by the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, local firefighters' unions and several mayors, while Sinclair touts endorsements from the Washington County Democratic Party, several local farmers and many of the same progressive candidates who back Fai. As of Oct. 27, Callaway had raised $94,000 since the May primary, and his two largest donations, $15,000 each from the chamber and the Democratic Central Committee, alone exceeded Sinclair's total of $14,000. Sinclair described her campaign as entirely "grassroots." Both District 4 candidates named affordability as the top concern they hear from voters.
