Public awaits zephyr of white smoke from council chambers announcing who holds the gavel in 2026 by Jeremiah Hayden Portland City Council is set to decide who will hold the council president’s gavel for the next year, in an annual vote under the city’s government structure. It’s the first item on Wednesday morning’s agenda, which is scheduled for two hours, but if last year’s election is any indication, you’ll want to bring a snack. The meeting begins at 9:30 am. View the agenda and tune in to the livestream here. Here’s what’s swirling around City Hall before the ceremonies begin. The council president is a powerful position under the city charter. The president presides over all council meetings, meaning they run the show and determine who gets to speak and for how long. The president also determines which items go to a committee or the full council, and plays a big role in setting the meeting agendas.  Though not spelled out in the city’s charter or the Council’s new governance guidelines, the position comes with a more administrative role that may prevent a councilor from leaning in as heavily on legislative and committee work. Previously, it was common for the City Council to choose a new president each year, though the role was much different. Under the former Council configuration, the mayor presided over meetings and the president filled in only in the mayor's absence. Elana Pirtle-Guiney, the current council president, is facing an uphill battle in her bid for reelection. Elected in the ninth round in 2025 with seven votes, Pirtle-Guiney played a precedent-setting role as the government found its footing throughout the year. Pirtle-Guiney's Chief of Staff Natalie Sept told the Mercury Wednesday morning that she's proud of her office's work in its first year. "Nobody really understood what this job was," Sept said. "There actually wasn't a whole lot of definition when the charter wrote the description of what this new form of government is." Pirtle-Guiney said the council's second year offered an opportunity for reflection. "We built a government from the ground up, and did so while fending off unwarranted and unprecedented attacks from the federal administration," Pirtle-Guiney said. "It was undoubtedly a year of growing pains and learning curves, but we also came together to unanimously move the City forward for working people, for small business, for parks, and for housing development." Now, city councilors and constituents are encouraging Pirtle-Guiney to step down and let another person hold the role. Council Vice President Tiffany Koyama Lane was elected unanimously in 2025. She said in a statement to the Mercury that the first year prompted serious reflection among councilors about what kind of leadership will best serve the city going forward. “I believe we need a president who can work collaboratively with the vice president and bring the council together, which is a large part of why l am supporting a change in council presidency,” Koyama Lane said.  Koyama Lane’s comments signal a dissatisfaction from the progressive caucus with Pirtle-Guiney’s leadership style and tendency to operate unilaterally. She added that under a still new form of government, she believes it is important to model shared leadership and set norms that reflect collective governance.  “Leadership roles belong to the body as a whole, not any one individual,” Koyama Lane said. “Sharing leadership builds trust, accountability, and keeps power from becoming too concentrated with any one person. Those precedents matter for how effective and stable this council is over time.” Councilor Mitch Green, who broke from his progressive colleagues to cast a ninth-round, seventh vote for Pirtle-Guiney in the first election, said he also supports a change in leadership.  “This council president role really shouldn't be about a political occupier of an office so much as it is about building the strength of the institution as Council as an independent branch of the government,” Green said. In anticipation of colleagues asserting from the dais that six progressive caucus members were unwilling to compromise, Green sees it as a two-sided affair. “If the less progressive side of City Council refuses to budge and refuses to see this great councilor, with great leadership qualities, and refuse to back him for ideological reasons, that's not a compromise,” Green said. Green said he hopes his colleagues will support District 2 Councilor Sameer Kanal, and multiple councilors who spoke to the Mercury Tuesday appeared poised to support Kanal as well. In a statement to the Mercury, Kanal stopped short of saying he was gunning for the role, but did not rule it out. “The Council President election tomorrow is about empowering Council as an institution so that it can deliver for Portlanders,” Kanal said Tuesday. “We need a president who will empower both the Council and individual Councilors, prioritize effective agenda-setting and strategic planning, and ensure efficient information-sharing so that we can get things done that Portlanders want and expect.” Asked what he would offer if elected to the role, Kanal said he was focused on ensuring the council had sufficient time to address issues Portlanders care about. “We have big issues that Council didn't schedule enough time to tackle last year — issues like downtown, our revenue situation, and affordability — and we need a Council President that will ensure our processes enable our City's progress,” Kanal said. He also promised to sideline or redirect his own priorities in order to better serve the council, and the public, as a whole. If nominated by my colleagues to serve, I would accept the nomination, and if selected, would step back from some of my legislative priorities, and from the progressive caucus, to focus my efforts on good governance for every Councilor, and all Portlanders." Pirtle-Guiney said prior to the Council meeting that she would love to continue her work. "Right now, Portland is facing unprecedented threats, and I believe I can provide the steady leadership we need," she said. "If my colleagues believe this is a time for continuity and consistency, I would be honored to serve another year." Some things are still up in the air. It's unclear what changes new Council leadership might bring, and whether councilors will continue including antiquated nouns like "madam" when addressing the president and vice president. One thing is clear though: Your middle school class president elections likely used a more utilitarian process than the current City Council, which doesn't solicit leadership nominations prior to the full Council vote. This story was updated with additional reporting at 9:35 am. ...read more read less