Michael O'Callaghan

Michael O'Callaghan ran for election for Mayor of Portland in Oregon. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

O'Callaghan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Michael O'Callaghan was born in Portland, Oregon. He earned a high school diploma from the Tigard Arts Academy. He attended Utah State and the University of Oregon. His career experience includes working as an activist.^[1]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Mayor of Portland

Select round:

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Keith Wilson in round 20 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 309,963
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Nancy Congdon (Nonpartisan)
Marshall Runkel (Nonpartisan)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for O'Callaghan in this election.

2020

General election

General election for Mayor of Portland

Incumbent Ted Wheeler defeated Sarah Iannarone and Teressa Raiford in the general election for Mayor of Portland on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Ted Wheeler (Nonpartisan)	46.0	166,543
	Sarah Iannarone (Nonpartisan)	40.8	147,437
	Teressa Raiford (Nonpartisan) (Write-in)	0.0	0
	Other/Write-in votes	13.2	47,703

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 361,683
= 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.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Portland

The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Portland on May 19, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ted Wheeler (Nonpartisan)	49.1	109,159
✔		Sarah Iannarone (Nonpartisan)	24.0	53,306
		Teressa Raiford (Nonpartisan)	8.5	18,950
	Submit photo	Ozzie Gonzalez (Nonpartisan)	5.8	12,928
		Bruce Broussard (Nonpartisan)	5.2	11,589
	Submit photo	Randy Rapaport (Nonpartisan)	1.8	3,943
	Submit photo	Piper Crowell (Nonpartisan)	1.5	3,353
	Submit photo	Mark White (Nonpartisan)	1.1	2,346
		Cash Carter (Nonpartisan)	0.7	1,539
	Submit photo	Sharon Joy (Nonpartisan)	0.4	926
	Submit photo	Willie Banks (Nonpartisan)	0.4	807
	Submit photo	Daniel Hoffman (Nonpartisan)	0.3	715
		Michael O'Callaghan (Nonpartisan)	0.3	658
	Submit photo	Michael Burleson (Nonpartisan)	0.2	426
	Submit photo	Lew Humble (Nonpartisan)	0.1	311
	Submit photo	Beryl McNair (Nonpartisan)	0.1	268
	Submit photo	Michael Jenkins (Nonpartisan)	0.1	267
	Submit photo	Jarred Bepristis (Nonpartisan)	0.0	107
	Submit photo	Floyd La Bar (Nonpartisan)	0.0	100
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	680

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 222,378
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Michael O'Callaghan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by O'Callaghan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

All Sites

Reader Mayor Mike Edit site Customize Edit Page Howdy, mike ocallaghan Skip to content Mike O'Callaghan for Portland mayor causing change Meet Mike O’C Ideas For Change Media Contact Mike DONATE! Meet Mike O’C I am running for mayor of Portland to advance ideas, with the cooperation of council and citizens, that will see Portland safer, cheaper and everyone housed. Early Life and Education As a child, my family lived in World War II housing in Portland, specifically in Kellogg Park. After a dozen moves, we ended up in Tualatin when the population was only 101 residents. At each school, as the “new kid,” I learned that those who were once the lowest were open to friendship. In Irwin, Idaho, we were called in from recess with a bell to a one-room schoolhouse partitioned for grade school and high school. There, we observed a large explosion for the construction of the Pallisades Dam foundation during the salmon run, which filled the air with thousands of Snake River salmon, quite a sight to behold. I remembered on a trip back to Portland seeing the fishermen at Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. I graduated from Tigard High, class of ’61, then attended Oregon State University for three years, eventually continuing my studies at Utah State, Portland State University, and the University of Oregon.

Professional Career and Activism

As a young man, I worked as a laborer for a few years before deciding to see some of the world.

I hitchhiked to Panama and then to Alaska. I

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Six housing proposals
Portland people polling is a platform for people to generate ideas with popular support and form a group to implement the ideas.
Safe sin removes drugs ,deaths and shootings out of the communities. Our city will be SAFER. I would expect a drop of 50% in shootings and overdoses.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Housing, overdoses, shootings, air pollution.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Ashoka, sun tsu. Better oneself, collaboration.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Ashoka

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty ,ability to listen, consensus building and creativity

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Organizer, motivator, team player, fun.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Communicating, listening and being open to information and ideas

What legacy would you like to leave?

Portland people polling

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Columbus day storm. I was 17 in college at oregon state.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Picking berries. Five summers

What is your favorite book? Why?

The lazy man's guide to enlightment. It was enlightening.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Invisible nebula

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

I think it's gonna rain.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Bureaucracy

A mayor is a leader in his or her city. What does that mean to you?

That my job is to inform and try to find agreement among 12 comissioners. Also Advancing new ideas to solve city issues humanly.

If the mayor in your city is a member of the city council and there's a city manager appointed to handle the day-to-day administration of the city government, what do you believe should be the mayor's top priority in office?

Finding consensus among 12 comissoners. Gathering information. PR for the region and celebrating the fantastic fun in this city.

What do you love most about your city?

Fun, quirky, people. The green lush everything grows here scene. Plusses, ocean, mountain, valley, rivers, music.

What do you perceive to be your city's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Housing, warming, "natural "disasters, economic inequities.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the state government?

Cooperation by having common goals.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between your city and the federal government?

Cooperation and common goals. Communication and exchanging information.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Two Irishmen walk out of a bar.....
N.A.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the mayor's office and law enforcement?

The mayor only has authority to fire the chief. I hope this could be avoided with communication and cooperation.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Spielman bagel mafia

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Essential. By its nature government protects itself. What the people need is accurate information. I will do my best to insure the public gets public information.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Michael O'Callaghan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

External links

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Candidate

Mayor of Portland

Website

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 13, 2024

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 13, 2024

[1]

	Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
	Keith Wilson	35.6	108,259	819	Won (20)
	Carmen Rubio	23.7	72,190	629	20
	Rene Gonzalez	19.0	57,958	257	19
	Mingus Mapps	13.9	42,298	360	18
	Liv Osthus	7.8	23,584	866	17
	Durrell Kinsey Bey	0.0	0	-3,681	16
	Josh Leake	0.0	0	0	15
	Sharon Nasset	0.0	0	0	14
	Michael O'Callaghan	0.0	0	0	13
	Martin Ward	0.0	0	0	12
Submit photo	Alexander Landry Neely	0.0	0	0	11
Submit photo	Michael Hayes	0.0	0	0	10
Submit photo	Shei'Meka As-Salaam	0.0	0	0	9
Submit photo	James Macdonald	0.0	0	0	8
	Dustin Witherspoon	0.0	0	0	7
	Saadiq Ali	0.0	0	0	6
Submit photo	Yao Jun He	0.0	0	0	5
	James Atkinson	0.0	0	0	3
Submit photo	Michael Necula	0.0	0	0	2
Submit photo	James Zehren	0.0	0	0	1

	Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
	Keith Wilson	35.2	107,440	674	Won (20)
	Carmen Rubio	23.5	71,561	539	20
	Rene Gonzalez	18.9	57,701	377	19
	Mingus Mapps	13.7	41,938	537	18
	Liv Osthus	7.4	22,718	364	17
	Durrell Kinsey Bey	1.2	3,681	90	16
	Josh Leake	0.0	0	-3,292	15
	Sharon Nasset	0.0	0	0	14
	Michael O'Callaghan	0.0	0	0	13
	Martin Ward	0.0	0	0	12
Submit photo	Alexander Landry Neely	0.0	0	0	11
Submit photo	Michael Hayes	0.0	0	0	10
Submit photo	Shei'Meka As-Salaam	0.0	0	0	9
Submit photo	James Macdonald	0.0	0	0	8
	Dustin Witherspoon	0.0	0	0	7
	Saadiq Ali	0.0	0	0	6
Submit photo	Yao Jun He	0.0	0	0	5
	James Atkinson	0.0	0	0	3
Submit photo	Michael Necula	0.0	0	0	2
Submit photo	James Zehren	0.0	0	0	1

	Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
	Keith Wilson	34.9	106,766	421	Won (20)
	Carmen Rubio	23.2	71,022	378	20
	Rene Gonzalez	18.7	57,324	465	19
	Mingus Mapps	13.5	41,401	434	18
	Liv Osthus	7.3	22,354	351	17
	Durrell Kinsey Bey	1.2	3,591	96	16
	Josh Leake	1.1	3,292	221	15
	Sharon Nasset	0.0	0	-3,046	14
	Michael O'Callaghan	0.0	0	0	13
	Martin Ward	0.0	0	0	12
Submit photo	Alexander Landry Neely	0.0	0	0	11
Submit photo	Michael Hayes	0.0	0	0	10
Submit photo	Shei'Meka As-Salaam	0.0	0	0	9
Submit photo	James Macdonald	0.0	0	0	8
	Dustin Witherspoon	0.0	0	0	7
	Saadiq Ali	0.0	0	0	6
Submit photo	Yao Jun He	0.0	0	0	5
	James Atkinson	0.0	0	0	3
Submit photo	Michael Necula	0.0	0	0	2
Submit photo	James Zehren	0.0	0	0	1

	Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
	Keith Wilson	34.7	106,345	503	Won (20)
	Carmen Rubio	23.1	70,644	273	20
	Rene Gonzalez	18.6	56,859	231	19
	Mingus Mapps	13.4	40,967	212	18
	Liv Osthus	7.2	22,003	519	17
	Durrell Kinsey Bey	1.1	3,495	189	16
	Josh Leake	1.0	3,071	184	15
	Sharon Nasset	1.0	3,046	220	14
	Michael O'Callaghan	0.0	0	-2,823	13
	Martin Ward	0.0	0	0	12
Submit photo	Alexander Landry Neely	0.0	0	0	11
Submit photo	Michael Hayes	0.0	0	0	10
Submit photo	Shei'Meka As-Salaam	0.0	0	0	9
Submit photo	James Macdonald	0.0	0	0	8
	Dustin Witherspoon	0.0	0	0	7
	Saadiq Ali	0.0	0	0	6
Submit photo	Yao Jun He	0.0	0	0	5
	James Atkinson	0.0	0	0	3
Submit photo	Michael Necula	0.0	0	0	2
Submit photo	James Zehren	0.0	0	0	1

	Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
	Keith Wilson	34.5	105,842	345	Won (20)
	Carmen Rubio	22.9	70,371	92	20
	Rene Gonzalez	18.5	56,628	360	19
	Mingus Mapps	13.3	40,755	130	18
	Liv Osthus	7.0	21,484	143	17
	Durrell Kinsey Bey	1.1	3,306	86	16
	Josh Leake	0.9	2,887	79	15
	Sharon Nasset	0.9	2,826	123	14
	Michael O'Callaghan	0.9	2,823	185	13
	Martin Ward	0.0	0	-2,376	12
Submit photo	Alexander Landry Neely	0.0	0	0	11
Submit photo	Michael Hayes	0.0	0	0	10
Submit photo	Shei'Meka As-Salaam	0.0	0	0	9
Submit photo	James Macdonald	0.0	0	0	8
	Dustin Witherspoon	0.0	0	0	7
	Saadiq Ali	0.0	0	0	6
Submit photo	Yao Jun He	0.0	0	0	5
	James Atkinson	0.0	0	0	3
Submit photo	Michael Necula	0.0	0	0	2
Submit photo	James Zehren	0.0	0	0	1

Michael O'Callaghan

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Mayor of Portland

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

2020

General election

General election for Mayor of Portland

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Portland

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

2020

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

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