News

Multnomah County Commission races: Brim-Edwards secures reelection

Julia Brim-Edwards, the lone incumbent running in any of the commission’s four races, appears to have won a decisive reelection over opponent T.J. Noddings in the race for District 3, covering the far east areas of Portland. She finished primary night with 76% of the vote, nearly 20,000 votes in all.

5/22/24, OPB

“It’s truly gratifying to get a very strong message of support from voters from east Portland, where I’ve lived, worked, and raised my family for 50 years,” Brim-Edwards told KOIN 6 News. “So I felt that voters really responded to the message that I had, which is that it’s time for change at the county. I was going to come in and disrupt the status quo and get the county back on track.”

5/22/24, KOIN

Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards soundly defeats challenger to win full board term

5/21/24, The Oregonian

Brim-Edwards retains seat on Multnomah County board for District 3

5/21/24, Portland Tribune

Willamette Week Photo of Julia Brim-Edwards

Willamette Week Endorses Julia Brim-Edwards

Brim-Edwards has been on the Multnomah County board for just 10 months, having won the Southeast Portland seat that Jessica Vega Pederson vacated to become chair. But it seems like she’s been on the job a lot longer. She’s brought much-needed energy to the county, helping fellow contrarian Sharon Meieran fight the status quo.

“I have my elbows out,” says Brim-Edwards, once a six-sport athlete at Washington High School. “Collaboration is not an outcome.”

Brim-Edwards, 62, started her career as a staffer to U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, then became director of communications for the Oregon speaker of the House. She served one term on the Portland Public Schools board from 2001 to 2005, went to work at Nike for 17 years, then rejoined the School Board in 2017, where she still serves, in addition to her day job at the county. (She can hold both offices because the School Board is a volunteer position.)

Brim-Edwards has learned her way around the county quickly. She’s on top of the numbers, which helps when she gets into the weeds with Vega Pederson, as often happens.

…we think it’s way too soon to toss out an experienced leader who is bringing a varsity game to what has been a JV organization.

Who’d play Brim-Edwards on film? Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

5/1/24

The Oregonian Endorses Julia Brim-Edwards

“It would be difficult to name a leader that this community has turned to more than Brim-Edwards to cut through the dysfunction this past year.

Despite only 10 months on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Brim-Edwards, 62, has emerged as an effective voice pushing for strategic action, transparency in debate and decision-making and targeted outcomes. From the moment she joined the commission, she has pressed Vega Pederson and the county to connect spending more tightly to specific goals….

She asks questions delving into the efficacy of programs and tracking of results. And she insists on including the community in projects affecting their neighborhoods – a move that builds trust, earns wider support and ensures better attention to detail in the planning…

Brim-Edwards’ work to plan a new drop-off sobering center plan is an example of her effectiveness and the shift in pace she’s brought to a county that prefers to plod. The county has been without a sobering center since 2019, while the need for a safe place to bring people experiencing acute intoxication has only intensified….

Brim-Edwards has shown in 10 months what one person working with the community and focusing on pragmatic, researched solutions can achieve. Voters should send Brim-Edwards back for a full term to keep leading the way.”

4/21/24