With a Government Transition, More Candidates Tapped Into Public Campaign Funding Than Ever—Here’s How It Works. by Abe Asher Portland has been helping fund campaigns for its city offices for years, and its impact this year has been especially significant: In an election with more than 100 candidates, the Small Donor Elections program has doled out more than a million dollars and served as a lifeline for candidates without the financial means to get themselves elected on their own.  But the program itself has been a source of controversy during the campaign, with the city making changes to accommodate the expanded candidate field. Here’s a primer on how it all works. What is the Small Donor Elections program?  The Small Donor Elections program is Portland’s effort to give regular residents a chance to fund campaigns and reduce the influence of big money in local politics.  If you are donating to a candidate in Portland, the city will match the first $20 you donate to a candidate for city office at a rate of up to 9-to-1—meaning that if a candidate has raised $1,000 from small donors, they could end up with as much as $9,000 in their campaign account. A number of cities and states in the country have similar public financing systems.  Mitch Green, a candidate for City Council in District 4, said he wouldn’t be running if not for public financing. “I’m not rich,” Green said. “I wouldn’t have been able to loan my campaign money and do that kind of thing outside of the Small Donor program.” Portland’s current program was passed via a City Council vote in 2016 and modeled on New York City’s public campaign financing program. A previous public campaign financing program in Portland was repealed by voters after a case of fraud in 2010.  How do candidates qualify for matching funds?  Any candidate running for mayor, city council, or auditor is eligible to participate in the program.  To start unlocking matching funds, candidates had to declare their intent to participate with the city by late August, take a mandatory training, and receive a minimum number of qualifying donations. Candidates for mayor must receive a minimum of 750 qualifying donations to begin receiving funds, while City Council candidates must receive at least 250 donations. Do all candidates for city office participate in the program? They do not! Participation in the Small Donor Elections program is optional, and while most candidates choose to participate, not all do. Candidates who opt into the program must pledge to limit individual campaign contributions to $350 and only accept donations from individual people or small donor committees.  Mayor Ted Wheeler, for instance, did not participate in the program during his re-election bid four years ago. Candidates who do not participate in the program can accept larger individual donations.  This year, about 50 candidates received matching funds from the program. During the 2020 election cycle, just 23 candidates participated and received funds. There are a lot of candidates running for office this year. How can the city afford to fund all of them?  By limiting the amount of matching funds the city distributes to candidates.  Last year, in anticipation of what has turned out to be the most crowded election in the history of the city (118 candidates!), Small Donor Elections program director Susan Mottet asked City Council for a budget increase to fund up to $750,000 in matching funds for mayoral candidates and up to $300,000 in matching funds for City Council candidates.  But the Council did not approve that money, and as a result, in January, the Elections Commission voted to limit matches for mayoral candidates to $100,000 and matches for City Council candidates to $120,000.  The reduction in matching funds—which is effectively a reduction of the public’s ability to shape the election—has been a significant subplot in the campaign, with mayoral candidate Rene Gonzalez complaining in May that the reduction of matching funds has made a “bit of a joke” of the mayoral race. Green also voiced frustration with the situation, saying the cap “should have been higher.”  “It’s unfortunate that the current City Council didn’t give Susan, the staff, and the program resources that she asked for, because it has been very difficult to manage all this,” Green said. “Their shop has done extraordinary work with very few resources.”  As late as June, officials with the Small Donor Elections program were floating ideas to inject more money into campaigns of participating candidates, including raising the cap on in-kind contributions from political organizations and committees and allowing small donor organizations to participate in the program if they are mainly funded by donations of $350 or less instead of $250 or less.  One City Council candidate, Jesse Cornett, told Willamette Week the program should seek private funding—a step one Portland Elections Commission member said the commission did not feel was “viable.”  Which candidates have raised the most money from the Small Donor Elections program so far?  Three of the city commissioners running for mayor, Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps, and Carmen Rubio, have already received the maximum of $100,000 in matching funds for their campaigns. So has mayoral candidate Keith Wilson, who has pledged to end unsheltered homelessness in Portland in his first year in office.  While the Small Donor program has shelled out nearly half a million for mayoral candidates, more than $1.8 million has gone to candidates running for one of 12 Council seats currently up for grabs. In District 1, Steph Routh was the only council candidate to unlock $80,000 in matching Small Donor funds from the city as of late September. Another five candidates in that district each got $40,000. In District 2, which covers much of North and Northeast Portland, former cidery owner Nat West was the only candidate to receive $80,000 by late September. Another 11 candidates in that district hit the $40,000 mark in matching funds.  A pair of progressives are leading the way in the Southeast Portland-based District 3, where Angelita Morillo has unlocked $80,000 in matching funds and local teacher Tiffany Koyama Lane has raised a field-leading $120,000. Another four candidates in the district, including former City Commissioner Steve Novick, have all hit the $40,000 level.  In District 4, which includes the westside and a pocket of Southeast Portland, Olivia Clark leads the way with $80,000 in matching funds. Nine more candidates have reached the $40,000 level. Green said he’s on the cusp of unlocking another $40,000 in matching funds after using the bulk of his first $40,000 to hire a campaign manager and field staff. If he’s elected, he said he wants to see the program grow.  “It’s been super critical,” he said.