Once again, city council and mayor candidates in May election are divided into progressive and conservative tribes

In an ideal world, which for sure we don’t have, political candidates would be judged on the basis of their unique individual qualifications and not on which political tribe they belong to. Maybe because they don’t belong to any tribe, having foresworn membership in the Democratic, Republican, or some other party.

But we live in polarizing times. And unlike a parliamentary system, our country has two enduring dominant political parties. So even though nationally unaffiliated voters are 47% of the electorate, with Republicans and Democrats at about 27% each, there’s a strong impetus for candidates to identify as progressive or conservative in nonpartisan races, while choosing R or D after their name in partisan races.

Salem city council and mayor seats are nominally nonpartisan. However, that nominally means in recent years at least, there are progressive and conservative slates for the four council seats plus the mayor position that are up for election every two years.

A Salem Reporter story yesterday by Abbey McDonald lays out the current status of these races. This is subject to change, since the filing deadline is March 10. The election is May 19. Any candidate in the primary who gets 50% of the total vote, plus one more, wins outright and won’t face a runoff in the November election.

These are the candidates who have filed so far, along with who is endorsing them. The Marion+Polk First PAC  is conservative. The Progressive Salem PAC is, obviously, progressive.

Mayor:
Julie Hoy (incumbent). Marion+Polk First PAC
Vanessa Nordyke. Progressive Salem PAC

Ward 2:
Linda Nishioka (incumbent). Progressive Salem PAC
Manny Martinez. Marion+Polk First PAC

Ward 4:
Deanna Gwyn (incumbent). Marion+Polk First PAC
Dave Inbody. Progressive Salem PAC

Ward 6:
Mai Vang (incumbent). Progressive Salem PAC
Betsy Vega. Marion+Polk First PAC

Ward 8:
Micki Varney (incumbent). Progressive Salem PAC
Chris Cummings. Marion+Polk First PAC

Currently progressives have a 6-3 majority on the city council, which is comprised of eight councilors and the mayor. The progressives are defending three of their current six seats in the May election. The conservatives are defending two of their three seats.

So if the conservative candidate wins two of the three city council seats that are now in progressive hands, control of the council would tilt rightward — assuming the two conservative incumbents win. This seems unlikely to me, but anything is possible in politics. That’s one reason I find politics so satisfying. You just never know for sure what’s going to happen in an election.