May, 2025: We elected Mai Vang to City Council

Progressive Salem’s focus in this election was to elect progressive candidate Mai Vang to fill conservative Mayor Julie Hoy’s vacated Ward 6 seat on the City Council and we were successful at doing so! Official results show Vang with 45% of the vote, main competitor Deanna Garcia with 38%, and distant third Logan Lor with 15%.  Since this was a special election, there will be no run-off in November, meaning that Vang will become Salem’s Ward 6 councilor. Congrats, Mai! 

This is an important win for Progressive Salem as we solidify a 6-3 progressive majority on the Council. 

Progressive Salem assisted Vang in a variety of ways: sending out three targeted mailings in Ward 6, helping her with canvassing and phoning, offering campaign advice and providing input into her Voters’ Pamphlet statement. Both of her campaign managers are Progressive Salem members.

Progressive Salem was happy to celebrate Mai’s winning campaign by co-hosting a watch party with the Marion County Democrats at their downtown headquarters on election night. We welcomed Mai’s parents and sister, all the way from their home in Missoula, Montana. What a proud moment for them!

May, 2024: We reelected Vanesa Nordyke and elected Paul Tigan and Irvin Brown to Council

In 2024 business interests went all out to take back the City Council and overturn a decade of Progressive policies. They raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat our Progressive candidates. Their efforts paid off with the defeat of our Progressive Mayor and one of our Progressive Council candidates. But we still were able to reelect Councilor Nordyke, who ran unopposed, and elect Progressives Paul Tigan and Irvin Brown to preserve a slim Council majority. An election in May 2025 will fill the seat vacated by Julie Hoy in her successful run for Mayor — a seat we are determined to win to preserve a strong Progressive majority on the Salem City Council.

May, 2022: We elected Chris Hoy as Mayor and Linda Nishioka and Micki Varney to Council

2022 was a banner year when we elected our first Progressive mayor in decades. With Tom Andersen moving up to the Legislature we also needed to defend his seat, which we did with Progressive Linda Nishioka who ran unopposed, an indicator of our strength. And we elected Micki Varney on her second try as the first Progressive Councilor for West Salem.

May, 2020: We elected Virginia Stapleton, Trevor Phillips and Vanessa Nordyke to Council

With three of the Progressive candidates we elected in 2016 choosing not to run again, we faced a big challenge to replace all three. We did just that to preserve our Progressive majority.

May, 2018: We reelected Tom Andersen and Chris Hoy to Council

Both candidates won reelection easily, running unopposed, a validation of the work of our Progressive majority on the Council.

March, 2017: We elected Chris Hoy to Council

When racist posts on social media led to the censure and resignation of conservative Councilor Daniel Benjamin we recruited Chris Hoy to run in a special election to fill the seat. He won against four opponents, one with the big-money backing of business interests. We had achieved our goal of a Progressive Council majority!

May, 2016: We elected Cara Kaser, Sally Cook and Matt Ausec to Council

Two years after our first victory we were organized as Progressive Salem and ready to continue to build a Progressive majority on the Salem City Council. All three of our candidates won against well-funded conservative opponents.

May, 2014: We elected Tom Andersen to Council

​Tom Andersen was our “proof of concept.” A handful of Progressives worked to recruit him and elect him before we organized as Progressive Salem. His election proved to us that “organized people can beat organized money” when he defeated two opponents to avoid a runoff in the fall. For two years he was the lone Progressive voice on the Salem City Council.

How did we do it? Our mantra is “Organized People Beat Organized Money.” Our conservative opposition raises big bucks from special interest groups and then floods voters’ mailboxes with negative postcards. We do it differently. We knock on doors and talk to voters. We make phone calls, and we give Democrats and other Progressives a positive message about our outstanding candidates. Then we get out the vote with more phone calls and door knocking. To do this we need a lot of volunteers. We need you!