2 weeks Ago By ELLA HUTCHERSON [email protected]
In an election that saw all nine Corvallis City Council ward seats up for grabs — and a youthful slate of seven trying to shake things up — change is afoot, but not all results are yet clear. Anticipation and nervousness permeated the Corvallis Museum on Tuesday evening, Nov. 5, as community members and elected officials mingled together at a modest event hosted by the Benton County Democrats.
Community members and elected officials await election results at the Corvallis Museum on Tuesday, Nov. 5. All attendees were awaiting election results — both on the national and local levels.
Corvallis candidates numbered a whopping 17 on the ballot — perhaps the highest volume in the last decade. Six of the nine races were contested, and two included three candidates and an opportunity for Ward 6 and 7 residents to utilize ranked choice voting. Of 12 newcomers who were running, six hailed from the Sunrise Corvallis slate , a self-identified “grassroots” group with a shared focus on climate change, housing and homelessness justice and safe streets.
Five of those six candidates are in their 20s. As results came in throughout the evening and into the night, a picture of what Corvallis’ next City Council will look like began to take shape — though one incumbent's return trip is not assured. In Ward 1, incumbent Jan Napack ran against 20-year-old Sunrise Corvallis slate member and cook Beckett Hunt.
Preliminary results — which show that 77.75% of eligible voters in Benton County have had their ballots counted — put Napack ahead. She clinched 69.
61% of the votes, while Hunt captured 29.56%. Napack, who has served on council since 2019, said she is very thankful for the support she has received, and is hopeful that the incoming council will be able to build consensus and develop a vision each member can get behind.
“There’s a lot of work ahead,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.” Ward 2 results painted a similar picture.
Incumbent Briae Lewis ran against 23-year-old Sunrise Corvallis slate member and prep cook Dylan de Honor. Unofficial results show Lewis has 60.47% of the votes, and de Honor has 37.
63%. Lewis, who has served on council since 2023, said she is excited by the prospect of another term and what the next two years will bring. In Ward 3, two newcomers vied for the seat that is to be vacated by longtime Councilor Hyatt Lytle — though one of these “newcomers” has actually served the ward before.
Jim Moorefield was a city councilor from 1989 to 1992, and served as council president within that time frame. Mark Taratoot is an outdoor recreation instructor and was previously water resources specialist for the city of Corvallis. Preliminary results showed Moorefield with a significant lead on Taratoot, who ran as a single-issue candidate with a focus on cleaning garbage out of Corvallis’ waterways.
Moorefield, who worked as the executive director of Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services for 20 years, has priorities that include addressing homelessness and the evolution of South Corvallis. He pulled 72.79% of preliminary votes, while Taratoot received 26.
37%. In September, Taratoot told Mid-Valley Media that “Ward 3 is very fortunate, because they’re not going to be able to make a bad choice in this election. Either of us is going to have a lot to offer to council.
” Moorefield said he is joining a council that already has priorities and is curious to see how that will change with (at least) four new faces. He’s also excited to see younger people joining the ranks. “I think that’s great,” he said.
One such young person is Alison Bowden. A technology systems manager, Bowden is a member of the Sunrise Corvallis slate. They ran in Ward 6 against software engineer Brennan Colberg and stay-at-home father Richard Masella — the first of two three-way races.
Laurie Chaplen, who has served the ward since 2021, did not seek reelection. If no candidate for Ward 6 had received more than 50% of the vote, the Benton County Elections Office would’ve proceeded with tallying second-choice votes. But it did not have to come to that.
Bowden carried 61.96% of preliminary results, while Colberg and Masella received 20.81% and 16.
44% respectively. Bowden sounded giddy over the phone following the initial influx of results. “It’s felt real, increasingly, as it got closer,” they said, “but now it’s so tangible.
” They said they’re excited, nervous and want to do well for their ward. They are focused on housing rights for Corvallis residents. While speaking with Mid-Valley Media, Bowden was with other members of the Sunrise Corvallis slate, who were keeping their eyes on the other races as ballots continued to be counted, and celebrating what the group had accomplished together.
None of them could’ve done it alone, Bowden said. Similarly to Wards 1 and 2, early results showed incumbent Paul Shaffer holding a steady lead over his two opponents in the second three-way council race. Shaffer, who has served on council since winning a special election in 2019 by a massive margin, received 63.
77% of the vote. Sunrise Corvallis slate member and Oregon State University master’s student Roy Rheuben received 20.04%, and civil rights worker Andrea Bibee received 15.
84%. Shaffer said he is grateful, and felt pretty confident going into the night’s election. “I spent five years building up a record as the incumbent,” he said, “and hoped that was enough to persuade Ward 7 that I deserved another two years.
” Last but not least, Ward 9 is the only race that feels too close to call. Incumbent Tony Cadena, who has served on council since 2023, has received 50.78% of the vote, while Sunrise Corvallis slate member and activist Karen-Jean Canan trails just behind him at 48.
2%. In other words, they’re just 63 votes apart. Cadena is not a single-issue candidate, and believes it is the council’s job to steward Corvallis’ physical and financial assets.
Canan, meanwhile, is laser-focused on addressing issues with the Coffin Butte Landfill, as well as tenants rights and accountability in local government. Canan declined to comment on the status of the Ward 9 race until the results become more clear. Cadena, via email, said that though he is encouraged by leading the race, he is patiently awaiting the final results.
Wards 4, 5 and 8 featured unopposed candidates. Sunrise Corvallis slate member Ava Olson, who is 21 years old and a student at OSU, will take the Ward 4 baton from Councilor Gabe Shepherd, who is joining the Benton County Board of Commissioners. Ward 8 will be passed on to Planning Commission Vice Chair Carolyn Mayers from outgoing Councilor Tracey Yee.
Ward 5 will remain in the hands of unopposed incumbent Charlyn Ellis, who is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against the city . How a new council term will impact these proceedings is not yet entirely clear. Benton County will release updated numbers by 5 p.
m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, as it counts mail-in stragglers.
Benton County Clerk James Morales said he does not expect numbers to meaningfully change. Dec. 2 will be the last day to deliver certified official election results abstracts.
Overall, presumptive winners in contested races express curiosity and excitement about the new term, and the new faces that will come along with it. “It’s going to be an interesting council,” Shaffer said. More Corvallis news More mid-valley election coverage Ella Hutcherson is a University of Oregon graduate who hails originally from the Southern Oregon coast.
She covers Corvallis city government, business, homelessness and arts, as well as the cities of Philomath and Millersburg. She can be reached at ella.hutcherson@lee.
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