Renovated
Tubman Opens
School bell rings
for two new
middle schools
‘City
of
Roses’
Celebrate Gospel Music
See Metro,
page 9
See Local News, page 3
September concert to feature five new honorees
Volume XLVII • Number 34
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • August 29, 2018
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Photo by d anny P eterson /t he P ortland o bserver
Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith campaigns for Portland City Council by sharing a fist bump with a potential voter at Thursday’s Beech Street Block
Party in northeast Portland. Smith has put renewed focus on grassroots community outreach as she tries to bounce back from a more than 20 point gap against her
opponent, Jo Ann Hardesty, in preparation for the November General Election.
‘I can win this’
by d anny P eterson
t he P ortland o bserver
Multnomah County Commissioner Lo-
retta Smith has refocused her campaign for
Portland City Council and predicts she will
make up ground from a second place finish
in the primary to repeat history and win the
general election this fall.
Smith’s strategy to close a 25-point defi-
cit comes with an onslaught of face-to-face
interactions with voters, stepped up can-
vassing, attending events and continuing
the community forums she has held all
summer, called “Loretta Listens,” in neigh-
borhoods all over the city.
Looking at her own election history for
inspiration, Smith recalls the November
General Election of 2010, a year when she
first ran for public office and overcame an
18 point disparity in the May primary to
win her first term as county commissioner.
This time, her opponent is former State
Representative and former NAACP Pres-
ident Jo Ann Hardesty who finished first
last May with 46 percent of the vote, but
short of the needed 50 percent plus one ma-
jority to win outright. Smith came in with
21 percent of the vote. Now they face off in
a Nov. 6 contest that will elect a black fe-
male on the City Council for the first time
ever. Current City Commissioner Dan
Saltzman did not run for re-election.
Smith, 53, told the Portland Observ-
Smith refocuses
her campaign for
City Council
er her campaign this summer has been
in stark contrast to her efforts during the
primary when she faced a heavy schedule
before the county commission in the mid-
dle of budget season and was busy carrying
out the responsibilities of her office.
She described how much more she is
now engaging with voters and looks for-
ward to the general election when as many
C ontinued on P age 14