Evelyn Kocher (Beaverton City Council Position 1, Oregon, candidate 2026)
Evelyn Kocher is running for election to the Beaverton City Council Position 1 in Oregon. Kocher is on the ballot in the primary on May 19, 2026.[source]
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Biography
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Elections
Nonpartisan primary
Nonpartisan primary election for Beaverton City Council Position 1
Evelyn Kocher (Nonpartisan), Rachel Philip (Nonpartisan), and Marvin Rydberg (Nonpartisan) are running in the primary for Beaverton City Council Position 1 on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Evelyn Kocher (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Rachel Philip (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Marvin Rydberg (Nonpartisan) | ||
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Endorsements
Kocher received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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Campaign website
Kocher's campaign website stated the following:
Priorities
Immigration
Over the last 3 months, 1 in 6 unlawful kidnappings of Oregonians by the federal government have taken place in Beaverton. This is absolutely unacceptable.
Beaverton is among the most diverse cities in the state, and as a mixed-race kid who was born in another country, this was one of the few places in Oregon where I truly felt like home. That’s why I won’t stop fighting for the safety ALL Beavertonians, no matter where the threat is coming from—even Washington DC.
I pledge to hold monthly town hall meetings in both English and Spanish so every part of the community can be informed about what is going on, what power the City has, and what the City is actually doing to keep them safe. In addition, I want to strengthen Beaverton’s protections for undocumented residents, including codifying our sanctuary city laws, clarifying procedures for when city staff encounter ICE and DHS (including prioritizing calling PIRC and filming the interaction), mandating that DHS and ICE not use city property to stage their kidnappings, and ensuring that Beaverton police can and do respond to reports of immigration-related detentions so that they can film it on their body cameras.
I will stop at nothing to explore every avenue possible to use city power to protect every Beavertonian from this illegal activity from our federal government.
Housing
Over the course of my life, I have struggled with housing insecurity, food insecurity, transportation, and debt. Both of my parents were laid off as a child, and later on, I myself worked multiple jobs in order to secure safe housing after coming out. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, as an immigrant, and as a disabled person, I know how difficult it can be to make ends meet.
I support the freedom of cities and counties to implement their own rent control, especially as a renter myself. I want to ensure that any rent increase is indexed to inflation to ensure that housing is affordable for working-class people. I will also work to streamline zoning and permitting for mixed-use and multi-family homes to give varied options for first-time homeowners and families.
As we work towards this goal, I would improve Beaverton’s collaboration with Washington County to streamline the usage of Metro’s existing supportive housing service (SHS) dollars. I want to better connect Beavertonians experiencing housing instability—especially LGBTQ+ youth and those struggling with mental health and addiction—with wraparound services to help them back on their feet.
That’s the kind of difference I want to make–ensuring that Beaverton that can be a welcoming home to anyone.
Transportation
Washington County is one of the largest hubs of both population and jobs in Oregon, but lacks the connections that it needs to unlock its full potential. Prioritizing projects in progress such as the Beaverton Loop and the redevelopment of TV Highway will go a long way towards making sure we can have a more extensive and equitable transportation system. Longer term, expanding the WES to Salem could make Beaverton the center of intercity rail transit in the state, further increasing the region’s interconnectedness and developing its potential.
The bottom line is this: in Beaverton, regardless of who you are, where you live, or how much money you make, you deserve a transportation system that works for you. Let’s make sure we make the investments we need in our roads, bridges, rails, sidewalks, and public transit systems to make that a reality.
Urban Development
Beaverton is lucky to be at the nexus of so many vital transportation lines, including 3 state highways, 1 federal highway, 2 MAX lines, 2 major transit centers, 17 bus routes, and Oregon’s only commuter rail line, the WES. With all of these important links along with Beaverton’s location as Portland’s gateway to Washington County and Washington County’s gateway to the rest of the metro area, we need to prioritize transit-oriented development to densify our downtown areas and make it a pedestrian-centered space where residents and businesses alike can thrive.
A denser downtown not only means more potential tax revenue for the city, it means that downtown Beaverton will become a destination for the entire Portland metro area—and one they can reach on foot, on bicycle, or on transit instead of polluting and congesting Beaverton’s streets. Beaverton already has not only one, but THREE amazing walkable downtown areas in Old Town, The Loop, and Cedar Hills Crossing. Investing city resources in better connecting them will make Beaverton even more of a destination to live, work, and play for the over 30% of Oregonians who do not or cannot drive—and the 100% of Oregonians who will ever be a pedestrian. Let’s make our city thrive together.
LGBTQ+ Rights
I am so incredibly lucky to be a queer person living in Oregon. If I didn’t live in a place that was so welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, I don’t know if I would have ever felt comfortable to come out and live as my most authentic self. However, Oregon’s culture and people have progressed far faster than our laws. Thanks to Measure 36, which was voted into law in 2004, our state constitution still defines marriage as between a man and a woman, even if it’s not enforced. Meanwhile, we still have gaping holes in our state’s non-discrimination laws, including those regarding insurance and lending, and tremendous gaps in our safety nets for LGBTQ+ youth, who are over twice as likely to experience homelessness.
I have always been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, but my proudest moment as an advocate was conceiving of, writing, and helping to pass the seminal human rights law HB 2002, which provided some of the strongest protections for reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care of any jurisdiction in the world. If elected, I would work to make Beaverton a gender-affirming care and abortion care sanctuary city like so many other cities have over the past year—including Corvallis in Oregon!
— Evelyn Kocher's campaign website (April 2, 2026)
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
