Sharon Meieran running for Multnomah County chair

In her own words: Approval of a piecemeal budget was her tipping point in deciding to file for the election

Today I am announcing that I am running for Multnomah County chair.

I really didn’t want to run for this office. Having stood for election before, I know firsthand how broken our electoral system is. The race for money, institutional endorsements and power too often prevents us from forging the consensus necessary to actually get things done.

But I care very much about getting things done. And I care very much about the people of our county and the work of county government — mental health and addiction, homeless services, public safety.

Six months ago, I publicly posted a comprehensive plan to turn Multnomah County around — you can see it here — the product of a year spent with experts, community leaders, business owners, and people using and delivering county services. It does what no one else has done this century: provides an actual roadmap for making Multnomah County work for the people it is meant to serve. Not generic talking points, but specific, achievable and measurable goals, with money and accountability tied to outcomes.

I have said repeatedly that if another candidate showed a genuine understanding of what the county needs — and a real commitment to a viable plan, whether mine or their own — I would support them. Instead, I’ve seen the opposite.

The two sitting commissioners running for chair seem more interested in being elected than doing the job. Neither has offered so much as a basic outline of how things would actually change if they got elected. Their campaigns have largely consisted of criticism of the status quo without a plan for replacing it.

My tipping point came Friday with the adoption of the FY 2027 budget, after the board debated piecemeal amendments until 1 a.m. without coalescing around common principles or anything resembling a comprehensive agenda.

When presented with a budget that embodies everything wrong with county government — spending disconnected from outcomes, accountability disconnected from performance, decisions disconnected from any larger strategy — one candidate voted for it, one voted against it. But neither confronted the lack of a plan that allowed it. They voted based on what they individually achieved out of the last minute negotiations, playing the same game, by the same rules.

A budget without a plan is just spending. And without a plan, the people of our county once again lost.

I know Multnomah County can do far better—while spending less. The people who depend on county government deserve leaders willing to do more than manage decline.

So I’ve decided to do what I hoped I would not have to do: run for Multnomah County chair. I already have a roadmap for change that can be implemented starting Day One.

Now that I am running, I call on every candidate in this race to create and share a detailed Multnomah plan — with goals, timelines, budgets and accountability measures — so we can debate what we would each actually do, and voters can then make informed decisions about how to move our county forward.

The beauty of ranked-choice voting is that candidates don’t have to run against each other. We can run for something. I am running for a Multnomah County that delivers effective homelessness and mental health services, restores public trust, measures success honestly, and is accountable for results.

I am entering this election to change Multnomah County — not merely change the name on the door of the chair’s office.

From 2017-2025, Sharon Meieran served as a Multnomah County commissioner representing District 1, which includes downtown and Northwest Portland.