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Daniel DeMelo

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Daniel DeMelo
Nonpartisan
Elections and appointments
Last election
November 5, 2024
Education
Bachelor's
The Evergreen State College, 2019
Personal
Religion
Spiritual
Profession
Software development
Contact
Campaign website
Campaign Facebook
Campaign X
Campaign Instagram
Campaign TikTok

Daniel DeMelo ran for election to the Portland City Council to represent District 3 in Oregon. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

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

Elections

2024

See also: City elections in Portland, Oregon (2024)

General election

General election for Portland City Council District 3

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Steve Novick in round 20 , Tiffany Koyama Lane in round 29 , and Angelita Morillo in round 29 . 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: 84,518
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for DeMelo in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Daniel DeMelo completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by DeMelo's responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

As a lifelong Portlander and second-generation American, I've dedicated my career to fighting for what's right for our city. After earning degrees in Computer Science and Media Studies from The Evergreen State College and working in software engineering, I returned home to Portland, eager to make a difference.

For decades, I've worked hand-in-hand with neighborhood, tenant, and homelessness organizations to address the challenges our community faces. I re-launched community-based oversight over Multnomah County's budget and served as Chair of the for the Multnomah County Central Community Budget Advisory Committee overseeing community input on $4billion+ in public spending on behalf of more than 800,000 Multnomah County residents. I worked alongside some of Portland's premier civil rights attorneys to hold government accountable in the courts.

My experience on the Joint Office of Homeless Services Community Budget Advisory Committee convinced me to step up and run to represent Portland's District 3 in City Council. With local government set to spend more than $100,000 per person on homeless services this year, I pushed for a commitment to reduce the number of people sleeping on our streets by at least one person. Disappointingly, Multnomah County refused to make this pledge. How can $700+ million in yearly homelessness spending lead to an increase in homelessness?

I'm running for office because I believe we can do better.
  • We can end unsheltered homelessness and unsanctioned camping. By focusing on practical, cost-effective solutions like pod-based shelters, we can provide a roof over every head and connect individuals with the targeted services they need to rebuild their lives. I'm committed to building 3-4k beds over two years across a variety of shelter sites. Every day that we spend money housing a select few rather than sheltering the many means another day of condemning thousands to suffering and death. It's time for action, not just words.
  • Portlanders deserve safety. By addressing public safety holistically – from fully funding Portland Street Response and CHAT to supporting our police, 911 and fire departments – we create an environment where businesses can flourish, residents feel secure in their neighborhoods, and more people feel confident using public transit.
  • Portlanders deserve a government that is accountable, transparent and efficient. Portlanders deserve a government that delivers results, not just promises. We need leaders who spend less time planning and more time doing. By focusing on tangible outcomes rather than rhetoric, we can make real progress on critical issues like homelessness, housing affordability, climate action, and traffic safety. Because we've failed to make progress on the issues that Portlanders care about, I've made a pledge of no new taxes.
Housing. I'm a wonk on this. I support building more homes, reducing fees for homebuilders, and streamlining our permitting processes. These practical solutions will make homes more accessible and help reduce homelessness.

Transit. I'm a transit nerd. I am committed to making strategic investments to enhance the speed and reliability of our system, with a focus on addressing public safety concerns.

Accountability & transparency. I will work tirelessly to ensure our government is transparent, responsive, and accountable to the people it serves
Portland must lead. Portland has a proud history of being a trailblazer in housing, transit, cycling, community policing, and climate action. However, we have fallen behind in recent years, and it's time for us to reclaim our position as a world leader. By focusing on delivering exceptional core city services – such as public safety, water and sewer systems, and road maintenance – we will rebuild trust with Portlanders and lay the foundation for lasting change.
As a teenager I taught guitar at a parks-run youth center for a summer.

I may have only held that summer job for a few months, but its impact has lasted a lifetime. It reinforced my belief in the power of community-driven initiatives to create positive change. By providing young people with opportunities to explore their interests and develop new skills, we can build a stronger, more vibrant society. It's a value I carry with me to this day, and it has shaped my commitment to public service and my desire to find common ground to move our community forward.
Gödel, Escher, Bach. I don’t just value the individual ideas it presents; it's the interplay between them that fascinates me. It’s rare to find a book that tackles profound concepts like self-reference, logic, and consciousness while also being playful and whimsical.
"Good Luck, Babe!" by Chappell Roan.
Investigatory authority. The City Council retains the little-used power to compel city employees and officials to attend hearings and swear an oath to telling the truth. Under the commission system this power was seldom used because commissioners could investigate their own bureaus at will. But with confidence in city government at an all-time-low and budget cuts looming on the horizon, it’s important that the new City Council wield this investigatory authority to ensure our city bureaus are efficient, well-run and focused on solving Portland’s problems.

Additionally, the City Council has the power not just to place measures on the ballot but “advisory questions.” These have voters answer non-binding questions like “should Portland highways be tolled?” or “should the city build shelter to shelter every single unsheltered person?” This allows the City Council to broadly poll a wide selection of Portlanders and get their input without necessarily committing to a particular course of action or specific legislation, and allows the City Council to see a breakdown of support by precinct and district. With new city councilors only elected by 25% of each district it’s all the more important that the city ensure its policies have democratic legitimacy. I would like to see the new City Council place at least one if not at least three advisory questions on each ballot, to ensure that we continue to focus on the issues that Portlanders are concerned about.
I'm proud to have earned a broad coalition of supporters and endorsers, including:

- Public Safety Unions: Portland Firefighters, Police Officers, 911 Operators and Portland Street Response EMTs;
- National Organizations: 314 Action, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
- Local Organizations: United for Portland, Future Portland, Revitalize Portland Coalition, Multifamily NW and the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®

- Elected Officials: Multnomah County Commissioner Dr. Sharon Meieran, Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan, former Portland Mayor Sam Adams, and City Commissioner and Mayoral Candidate Rene Gonzalez.
I’ve worked alongside some of Portland’s top civil rights attorneys to hold government accountable for illegally blocking access to public records. Portland’s public records process is archaic and difficult. We should work to increase access to government records and create visibility into the innermost parts of government.

Too often government creates long-term goals without short-term checkpoints to ensure that our approaches to our problems are making as much change as we expect. For example, while we committed to decarbonization by 2050, we have not created yearly or even decade-based goals to allow us to ensure we’re making progress at the expected rate. I’d like to see the city adopt checkpoints by which we can ensure we’re making progress.

Every dollar spent by the City of Portland was collected from a Portland resident or business, and as such every Portlander deserves to see how that dollar was spent. In the long run, I’d like the city to make every individual expenditure publicly inspectable; as we work to achieve that goal, Portlanders deserve to see a monthly accounting of the dollars available in different budgeted accounts, what monies were spent on, and what was hoped to be achieved by spending those dollars. No public dollar should be spent without public oversight.

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.

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External links

Candidate

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