So. Bit of an update.
Over the past month or so I've been seeing more and more "write in Raiford". Lots of people - including ones who are all "vote Biden cause he's the lesser evil" - claiming Iannarone is no different than "Tear Gas Ted" and will uphold the status quo as much as Wheeler. So just to get a bit of an idea:
https://twitter.com/WriteInRaiford/status/1291118869835259904?s=20And this is all despite Iannarone being just as progressive as Raiford. Her platform calls for a
pretty good overhaul of the police department and police practices. But apparently that's not good enough.
Iannarone sent Raiford a letter and uh I think I'll just post the response right here (keep in mind this wasn't posted by Raiford herself but by her campaign, click to enlarge):
Keep in mind Raiford got a grand total of 8% in the primary. It's a respectable third place, sure, but nowhere even close to building a winning coalition. She's not even actively campaigning. But she's egging on her delusional backers just enough to give them a false sense of hope.
And that 8% she got? Well it put her ahead of a couple candidates who seemed to be running serious campaigns - Ozzie González and Bruce Broussard who I both saw signs for. Not bad. But apparently it was cause she is black and the white supremacist city of Portland would never dare to elect a black woman to its highest office?
https://twitter.com/Teressa_Raiford/status/1291762599227351040Now of course Portland has a racist history. And it still does have some racist aspects. But right now there's a progressive black woman, Jo Ann Hardesty, sitting on the at-large city council seat. And guess who she beat in the runoff? Another black woman (Loretta Smith, who herself was a county commissioner!) Smith herself just narrowly lost a race for another city council seat. So I don't quite buy the argument that Portland's against electing black women. Quite the opposite actually.
Now listen. I really do respect the work Raiford has done has an activist and I don't doubt she'd be a decent mayor. But she and her supporters need to suck up, move on, and vote for Iannarone. Otherwise any hope of change at maybe the most crucial time in decades is dead.