How Portland's public campaign financing program performed in a historic election year

Portland’s historic charter reform resulted in nearly 100 candidates running for a seat on the expanded city council and 19 Portlanders running for mayor. For those running for office, Portland’s Small Donor Election program promises to match funding to donations and provide their campaigns with taxpayer dollars.

Exactly 52 candidates qualified for the program this election cycle. But reporting from Willamette Week shows some of the “creative” ways candidates met the threshold to receive funds, from mutual donations between candidates to hiring nonprofit organizations to collect donations for them. Sophie Peel is a reporter for WW and has been following this election closely. She joins us to share more on the role the Small Donor Program played this election and how it compares to other cities with similar programs such as Seattle.

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