After several delays, the Portland City Council will meet on Wednesday to elect its legislative leader for 2026.

Councilors are expected to elect a council president at the first meeting of each year. At that first meeting, Jan. 7, councilors spent more than seven hours divided over which councilor to elect — never reaching an agreement. The debate was set to continue the following day, but news of a shooting involving federal law enforcement in East Portland forced councilors to table the discussion.

Councilors will pick up where they left off at their Wednesday morning meeting.

Last week, councilors were divided 6-6 in their support of Councilor Sameer Kanal and Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney. Pirtle-Guiney, who held the president’s role for all of 2025, garnered support from the more moderate councilors, while Kanal was backed by the council’s more progressive members. The marathon debate over the deadlocked vote turned personal as several progressive councilors accused Pirtle-Guiney of racism and moderate members accused Kanal of having a “juvenile” leadership style.

Before the shooting derailed Thursday’s vote, two other councilors’ names had entered the candidate list: Councilor Steve Novick and Councilor Loretta Smith. Both Novick and Smith had previously backed Pirtle-Guiney for the president’s role. They were nominated by Councilor Eric Zimmerman, who had also sided with Pirtle-Guiney.

“Both of you are interesting ideas to me,” said Zimmerman, after nominating both councilors Thursday. “I think yesterday’s conversation just being about two personalities only left us wanting for additional perspectives. I’m asking for you to step in and broaden this conversation.”

It’s not clear if councilors plan to nominate additional candidates to the president’s seat Wednesday.

A council president must collect votes from a majority of councilors to win the position.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/13/portland-city-council-president-oregon-politics/