On May 19, 2020, and November 3, 2020, elections were held in Portland, Oregon, to elect the mayor.
In Portland local elections, all voters are eligible to participate. All candidates are listed on the ballot without any political party affiliation. All candidates meeting the qualifications competed in a blanket primary election on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. As no candidate received an absolute majority, a runoff election between the top two candidates was scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Voters could also choose to write-in candidates.
In the general election, Portland voters also elected members of their City Commission and voted on local ballot initiatives.
Since no candidate received a simple majority (50% plus one) vote in the primary election, the two candidates who received the most votes (Wheeler and Iannarone) ran again in the general election on November 3, 2020. Iannarone, who had finished third in the 2016 mayoral election, was campaigning on a progressive platform emphasizing urbanism and taking a stronger stand against police violence.
The police murder of George Floyd and resulting protests occurred only two weeks after the first round of the mayoral election, and led to significant protest activity in Portland that continued throughout 2020. These events led supporters of third-place candidate Teressa Raiford to begin mounting a write-in campaign on her behalf, arguing that she more authentically represented the energy of the street protests.
Wheeler won the election, becoming Portland's first mayor to win a second consecutive term since Vera Katz left office in 2005. Ultimately, almost 48,000 write-in votes were cast in the election, far exceeding Wheeler's approximately 20,000-vote margin of victory.