A former Nike lobbyist who helped sink Metro's 2020 transit tax, voted $101.6M for the Blazers' arena, and lost Basic Rights Oregon's endorsement.
Brim-Edwards has been Multnomah County's District 3 commissioner since 2023 and served two stints on the Portland Public Schools board. Before that she was a Nike executive and lobbyist after "a first career in Oregon politics," which included serving as Sen. Bob Packwood's communications director (1992) and working for House Speaker Bev Clarno in the 1990s. She calls herself a results-focused leader who "disrupted the status quo," and her campaign is backed by the Chamber's PAC.
Backed byJulia Brim-Edwards is the most experienced insider in the race, and that is the problem. Before county office she spent years as a Nike executive and lobbyist, "involved in nearly every significant state and local political issue" for 17 years [1]. WWeek reported that she "played a central role in defeating Metro's massive transportation tax in 2020" [1], a measure Nike spent $914,000 to beat [2]. It was a multibillion-dollar regional measure for transit and street projects [2]. In 2018 she was named in a deal brokered by Gov. Kate Brown, in which unions dropped a ballot measure that would have forced public companies to disclose their taxes, a proposal Nike disliked. Nike paid $100,000 to a PAC she founded; regulators found no violation [3].
On the county board, her signature moves lean toward enforcement. In 2024 she proposed an "overarching camping ban throughout Multnomah County" [4], and her budget letter sets a goal of "ending street camping" and asks for Good Neighbor Agreements before new shelters open [5]. In 2023 she pushed to delay a fentanyl harm-reduction supply program [6]. In the 2025 budget fight she sided with the DA, and the DA and Sheriff were the only offices spared cuts [7]. She proposed an amendment to restore more than $1 million to the DA's office, funded by trimming vacant positions [8].
On revenue, she twice proposed indexing the Preschool for All tax thresholds to inflation. Supporters said that would shrink the funding behind universal free preschool, and the board shelved it [9][10]. On the Moda Center she objected to paying "for maintenance for an asset we don't own," and had backed a smaller $88M deal, then voted for $101.6 million [11]. WWeek says she had helped craft the package "in closed-door meetings" [12].
Her record on openness worries people who worked with her. At PPS she led efforts to tone down a 2019 state audit and held a press conference attacking it before release [13]. Seven current and former school board members, including the current chair, call her leadership "ineffective" and say she chose "the most politically expedient path" [14]. WWeek, which still ranks her second, sees "a worrying pattern" of expediency over principle [12]. Basic Rights Oregon PAC withdrew its endorsement over her reported comments on trans student athletes [15].
Her money and allies point the same way. The Chamber's PAC, United for Portland, tells voters to rank her first and nobody else [16]. Unity PAC, which includes the police union and United for Portland, backs only her [17]. Her donors include Chamber executives and developer Jordan Schnitzer [18], and she has far outraised her rivals [19].
She has real labor and Democratic endorsements, and some of her fights, like questioning bad preschool forecasts, have merit. But on transit funding, corporate tax transparency, homelessness, arena subsidies and public accountability, her record lines up more often with the business groups funding her campaign than with the progressive goals voters set at the ballot box.
WWeek reported that Brim-Edwards, then a Nike executive, "played a central role in defeating Metro's massive transportation tax in 2020." Nike spent $914,000 against the measure, a little more than a third of what the "no" campaign raised.
Willamette Week (with WWeek, Nov 9, 2020 on Nike's $914K: https://www.wweek.com/news/2020/11/09/nike-spent-more-than-900000-to-beat-metros-multi-billion-transportation-tax/)BRO PAC's board voted unanimously to withdraw its endorsement. It said she raised concerns in private PPS board meetings that trans athletes could hurt other students' scholarship chances, and that she urged stricter participation rules. BRO says it verified these accounts through confidential briefings, so the specifics are not public.
Basic Rights Oregon PAC (statement)The county board approved $101.6M toward renovating the Blazers' arena 4-1, and Brim-Edwards voted yes. Only Commissioner Meghan Moyer voted no, saying the amount was "too much." Brim-Edwards had first pushed for a smaller $88M commitment paid only from the rental-car tax.
OPBAs chair of the board's audit committee, she "took a leadership role in the district's efforts to tone down" the Secretary of State's 2019 PPS audit. She held a pre-release press conference criticizing it, and the SOS office called the district's early disclosure an act of "bad faith." Months later she volunteered on new Secretary of State Bev Clarno's transition and ended the role in April 2019 after it drew questions. Seven current and former school board members later wrote that she hid this role from district officials.
Oregon Capital Bureau via East Oregonian (also OPB Jan 9, 2019: https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-public-schools-audit-secretary-of-state-release/ ; OPB Apr 12, 2019: https://www.opb.org/news/article/portland-school-board-member-ends-voluntary-work-secretary-of-state/ ; WWeek Jul 29, 2026: https://www.wweek.com/news/county/2026/07/29/seven-former-and-current-portland-school-board-members-warn-julia-brim-edwards-is-not-fit-for-county-chair/)Seven current and former PPS board members, including current chair Eddie Wang, signed a letter calling her an "ineffective" leader whose micromanagement fed a "toxic" environment. They also said she took the "most politically expedient path" over what the data and student outcomes showed. Two of the signers endorse her opponent Shannon Singleton.
Willamette WeekShe proposed indexing the voter-approved tax's income thresholds to inflation, starting at $153,000 for single filers and $245,000 for joint filers. Supporters said that would cut revenue and put universal free preschool at risk. The board postponed the change indefinitely, and one supporter accused commissioners of "kicking the can down the road." She had offered a similar indexing amendment in 2024, and the board did not adopt it.
KATU (also OPB Aug 21, 2025: https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/21/multnomah-county-delay-preschool-for-all-funding/ ; Multnomah County, Aug 29, 2024: https://multco.us/news/news-release-board-weighs-one-year-pause-scheduled-increase-preschool-all-tax-high-earners)In September 2024 she proposed an "overarching camping ban throughout Multnomah County" covering unincorporated areas and county property, enforced by city police or the sheriff. She told KGW "It absolutely needs to be done," and also said the focus should be more shelter, with punishment as a last resort. No adoption was found in coverage.
KGW 'The Story' video description, Sept 18, 2024 (also KGW article: https://kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/multnomah-county-homeless-camping-ban-commissioner-brim-edwards/283-4b94308f-4e49-4329-92c9-8cc59fbecfa4 ; KPTV Sept 18, 2024: https://www.kptv.com/2024/09/19/multnomah-co-officials-consider-new-camping-ban)OPB reported that unions agreed to drop a possible ballot measure "that would have forced publicly traded companies to disclose tax information," a proposal Nike disliked, in a deal brokered by Gov. Kate Brown that named "senior Nike employee Julia Brim-Edwards." Nike then paid $100,000 to the Common Good Fund, a PAC she founded. The state elections director found no violation of law.
OPB via Jefferson Public RadioWWeek's endorsement editorial says she "helped craft the arena funding package called Project Mount Hood in closed-door meetings, but later grew alarmed by the size of the county's financial contribution." The Mercury reports that critics raised the same point.
Willamette Week (also Portland Mercury, Jul 29, 2026: https://www.portlandmercury.com/?p=248195)The Mercury reports that in the 2025 budget fight she sided with DA Nathan Vasquez against Chair Vega Pederson, and the Sheriff's and DA's offices were the only ones not cut. She proposed an amendment to restore more than $1 million to the DA's office, funded by trimming six vacant positions, and co-sponsored $500,000 for an Organized Retail Theft Task Force. She was the lone no vote when the board accepted the chair's proposed budget, saying the process was hurried.
Portland Mercury (also KPTV May 20, 2025: https://www.kptv.com/2025/05/21/proposed-amendment-multnomah-co-budget-aims-restore-public-safety-programs ; WWeek Jun 13, 2025: https://www.wweek.com/news/2025/06/13/multnomah-county-public-safety-budget-preserved-after-months-of-debate/ ; KATU May 2025: https://www.katu.com/news/local/multnomah-county-board-votes-to-accept-chair-vega-pedersons-4b-budget-proposal)In July 2023 she and Commissioner Sharon Meieran asked the health department to delay handing out foil and straws to fentanyl smokers. She said there was "no compelling evidence that it is comparable to safe needle exchanges."
Willamette WeekHer signature homelessness proposals lean toward enforcement and conditions: a countywide camping ban, an end-camping goal, neighbor agreements before new shelters, and treatment requirements in deflection. She pairs them with calls for more shelter beds.
She has prioritized prosecution and jail capacity in tight budgets, including when other departments were cut.
She has tried to narrow a voter-approved progressive tax, backed a nine-figure arena subsidy, and as a Nike lobbyist fought new taxes and tax disclosure.
Her best-known Nike political work was beating the region's largest transit and safe-streets funding measure.
Colleagues and reporters describe secrecy and expediency, from the PPS audit to the arena talks.
The Chamber's political machinery and the police union back her alone, alongside significant labor support.
He's not going to resign over unproven allegations.Speaking as Sen. Bob Packwood's communications director after women accused him of sexual misconduct. She also called the Oregon Democratic Party's demand that he resign "totally predictable." · Washington Post, 1992-11-24
I strongly objectIn a Dec. 10, 2018 email to the state's lead auditor about the draft PPS audit's portrayal of how the district responded to misconduct reporting. · Oregon Capital Bureau via East Oregonian, 2018-12-10 (reported 2019-04-10)
undermine trust in the communityWarning, at a press briefing the day before the release, about what the Secretary of State's PPS audit would do. · OPB, 2019-01-08
I don't think we should be paying for maintenance for an asset we don't own.During the Moda Center debate, before she voted for the $101.6M package. · OPB, 2026-08-06
As soon as I joined the commission, I disrupted the status quoAnnouncing her run for chair. She also called for requiring people arrested with drugs to seek treatment rather than receive lighter-touch deflection. · Willamette Week, 2026-02-09
It absolutely needs to be done.On her proposed countywide homeless camping ban. · KGW, 2024-09-18
Ultimately, the County should be driving to a goal of ending street camping.Her FY2026 budget priorities letter, which also asks for Good Neighbor Agreements before new shelter sites open. · Multnomah County (Brim-Edwards budget priorities letter), 2025-02-21
the wheels of justice either turn or they don't workObjecting to proposed cuts to the DA's office. · KOIN, 2025-04-29
Bad data led to bad decisions.On Preschool for All's seat forecasts. She said she strongly supports universal preschool. · KOIN, 2025-12-16
Public trust and credibility require conversations to happen at public meetingsStatement raising questions about the $1.83B PPS bond, the day before ballots went out. · Willamette Week, 2025-04-29
Her endorsers are broad and mostly Democratic or labor: former Govs. Kulongoski and Roberts, Secretary of State Tobias Read, U.S. Reps. Bonamici, Bynum and Hoyle, all six county mayors, the Oregon Nurses Association, AFSCME Local 88 and the NW Oregon Labor Council (Mercury Oct 12; WWeek Apr 13, 2026). At Nike she worked with public employee unions to pass the 2019 Student Success Act (WWeek Nov 23, 2021), and in the 2018 deal Nike joined unions against anti-tax Measures 103 and 104 (OPB/JPR). On Moda she pushed for a smaller, tourism-tax-only deal, and WWeek says her Preschool for All forecast challenge proved right. She frames her camping and deflection positions as shelter- and treatment-first, co-sponsoring the 2026 deflection resolution with Singleton (multco.us). On PPS she says her board record "speaks for itself."