Keith Wilson will be the next mayor of Portland

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Keith Wilson has maintained a significant lead in the race for Portland mayor, enough for the Oregonian/OregonLive.com to declare him the winner.

Wilson, the 61-year-old CEO of Portland trucking company Titan Freight, passed the threshold of votes needed to stay at the top in the city's new ranked-choice voting system during Wednesday's 5:10 p.m. update. His main opponents in the race, Portland City Commissioners Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez, have both called on Wilson to abandon the race.

In this new system, voters rank candidates according to their preference. The candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated after each round and their votes are distributed to the next voters. Candidates must achieve at least 50% plus one of the votes counted to win – this is also known as the electoral threshold. After ballots were counted on Wednesday, Wilson became the first to cross that threshold. Wilson was also in the lead in the first vote cast Tuesday at 8 p.m.

“I’m so humbled,” Wilson told OPB after the Oregonian called his race Wednesday night. “I’m incredibly happy that we have this opportunity to bring a truly different vision to Portland.”

On Wednesday night, Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio was closest to Wilson's leadership. But shortly after the results came in, she urged Wilson to back down.

“As for our next mayor, I’m glad we have someone who clearly believes in Portland,” Rubio said in an emailed statement. “My hope for (Wilson) is that he enters City Hall with a desire to listen and learn from those who have worked hard to get Portland back on its feet.”

City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez trailed Rubio in the evening's preliminary results. According to the results, Wilson received 19,000 votes from people who placed Gonzalez first, ultimately solidifying his lead.

“I just called to congratulate our next mayor, Keith Wilson, on a good race,” Gonzalez said in a statement shared with OPB Wednesday evening. “It’s time for all Portlanders to rally behind him as we work to make Portland what we want it to be and a city we can be proud of again.”

Multnomah County, which oversees city elections, expects at least 115,000 more ballots to be counted this election cycle. It seems that this will not be enough to change the outcome of this race.

Wilson was the biggest political outsider in the 19-person mayoral race, running against three current city commissioners. That became a central talking point: “Election of one of our failed city leaders to the mayor’s office will only increase the dysfunction of the status quo,” Wilson wrote in a candidate questionnaire sent to OPB/The Oregonian.

Wilson's campaign focused on an ambitious plan to end unsheltered homelessness by 2026 solely by expanding the city's shelter capacity and strengthening the city's troubled partnership with Multnomah County to oversee homeless services programs. He also promised to reduce carbon emissions, including by converting all city vehicles to run on electricity (which Wilson did with all Titan trucks in 2023).

Wilson said he plans to transfer ownership of Titan before the new year because elected leaders in Portland are not allowed to hold second jobs.

Wilson will be the first mayor in Portland's new form of government. Under this voter-approved change, the mayor will no longer serve on the City Council and will instead focus on leading city departments alongside a new city manager. The plan also expands the size of the City Council to 12 members. These city councilors will also be decided in this week's election. Several candidates in these races are leading in early returns, but results are still preliminary.

Wilson said he is excited to get to know his new colleagues at City Hall.

“I look forward to having really focused conversations with each new city councilor in the coming weeks to find out what their vision is for Portland,” Wilson said. “The message from voters is clear. They want a change in the way we care for Portland. So we will listen.”