Even Portland Is Fed Up with Progressive Policies 

Multnomah County, Oregon, District Attorney Mike Schmidt received landslide support from voters in 2020 for his “reform-minded” promises to reduce incarceration and address racial disparities in policing and law enforcement. After Schmidt earned 77 percent of the vote in one of the nation’s most progressive counties (Portland is located in Multnomah County), the prosecutor’s term should have been a breeze.

Six days after the local election, George Floyd’s death sparked riots in cities across the country. Portland’s city council quickly voted to cut 84 police officers and defund the police to the tune of $15 million. By the time Schmidt took office in August 2020, riots had plagued Portland for months — and they would continue into the winter. Just like the city council, Schmidt decided to appease the Black Lives Matter rioters. After all, their progressive vision wasn’t far removed from his campaign promises. Schmidt promised not to prosecute rioters for crimes like disorderly conduct or interference with a police officer.

In the following years, the number of shootings and homicides exploded, vehicle theft increased, and violent crime stabilized at 17 percent higher than 2019 levels. The lack of misdemeanor prosecution, combined with Oregon’s newly relaxed drug laws, contributed to the proliferation of open-air drug markets and homeless encampments. In short, Portland became unlivable. 

This week, Portland voters ousted Schmidt in a district attorney election that has been characterized as a referendum on the city’s progressive quality-of-life policies. Nathan Vasquez, a prosecutor who has served Multnomah County for almost 25 years, challenged his boss for the position. Vasquez beat Schmidt by 8 points. 

Where Schmidt’s term accelerated progressive criminal justice reforms, Vasquez campaigned on a centrist law and order platform. “We can be compassionate about people’s life circumstances, recognizing the complex issues that drive some individuals into the criminal justice system,” Vasquez’s campaign website states. “At the same time, we can and must hold people accountable for their actions when they harm our communities.”

Clearly, his platform resonated with Multnomah County voters. Though Portland has long been a melting pot of left-wing lifestyles, some residents think the city’s radicalism has gone too far. Vasquez told the Free Press that some of his supporters had previously participated in the anti-police riots of 2020. “A lot of people still want social justice,” Vasquez said, “But what they also want is a safe community.” 

Vasquez’s election comes several months after the Oregon state Legislature repealed core elements of Measure 110, a novel piece of legislation that decriminalized the possession and use of hard drugs. Though Measure 110 had been passed in November 2020 with 59 percent support from voters, polling three years later showed that “64 percent of voters wanted some or all of it repealed.” Starting Sept. 1, core elements of Measure 110 will be nullified: Hard drug possession will be illegal, and courts will once again mandate treatment for offenders. 

During the candidates’ campaigns, the Willamette Weekly asked Vasquez and Schmidt where they stood on Measure 110 and its repeal: “Do you support rolling back decriminalization and, if so, how stiff should the criminal charge be?”

Though Schmidt’s spokesman called for a ban on the public use of hard drugs, he would not directly answer whether he supported recriminalizing drug possession. Vasquez had no problem facing the question head-on. He criticized Measure 110 for permitting increased drug abuse and proposed a “six-point strategy” to realign drug policy with public safety. Vasquez voiced support for a return to pre–Measure 110 classifications for hard drugs as Class A misdemeanors and emphasized the need for addiction treatment. 

Multnomah County voters would have laughed at Vasquez’s position in 2020, but after four years of blight — including rampant drug abuse, homelessness, opioid overdoses, and open-air drug dealing — Portland voters are fed up. Polling found that 78 percent of Portland voters believe homelessness is a “very serious problem” in the city, and more than 60 percent of voters supported fines or arrests for vagrancy.   

“A line I hear in Portland on an everyday basis is that people tell me, ‘I’m very progressive, or I’m very liberal, but things have gone too far,’” Vasquez commented to the Free Press. Politico’s analysis of the electoral atmosphere is astute: 

[Democrats have] mostly found success by elevating abortion and MAGA … but their vulnerabilities on quality-of-life issues remain and could prove particularly acute with the broader presidential electorate this fall. 

In a one-party district like Multnomah County, tensions within the Democrats are evident. Vasquez beat Schmidt, but by a far smaller margin than the 53-point victory that put Schmidt in office in the first place. And if Vasquez cracks down on crime too fervently, he risks ostracizing some of the very voters who pushed for criminal justice reforms in 2020. Quality-of-life issues are easiest to campaign on when things are bad, and Democrats are unlikely to walk back their fervent espousal of radical reforms by progressive prosecutors like Schmidt. But, at least for now, even Portland residents are fed up with their party’s left-most wing. 

Mary Frances Myler is a contributing editor at The American Spectator. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. 

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