Ballots go out Wednesday, Oct. 14 for two Washington County Board of Commissioners runoffs that will decide who leads the county and who fills an open western-county seat.

Both races appear on every Washington County ballot, meaning Bethany, Cedar Mill, Oak Hills and West Haven-Sylvan voters will weigh in on each one.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Chair race: Fai vs. Treece

The at-large chair seat is open after former Chair Kathryn Harrington resigned effective Friday, Oct. 2. Harrington stepped down after she gave the middle finger to Commissioner Nafisa Fai during a Sept. 15 public work session, KGW reported. Vice Chair Jerry Willey is serving as interim leader until the winner is sworn in Jan. 3, 2027.

Fai, the District 1 commissioner, led the May primary with 39.1% of the vote. Treece, the District 2 commissioner, finished second with 33.1%, according to the Hillsboro News Times. A third candidate, Jenny Kamprath, was eliminated.

The chair leads the five-member board and serves a two-year term. The position represents the entire county, not a single district.

Nafisa Fai became the first Black and first Muslim commissioner on the Washington County board when she was elected in 2020. A refugee from Somalia who has lived in Oregon for about 30 years, she lives in Aloha. Her term as District 1 commissioner runs through 2028, so she would keep that seat if she loses the chair race.

Fai's priorities include streamlining housing permits, expanding bus routes and investing in community safety teams staffed by mental health professionals. In an Oct. 1 candidate questionnaire with the Hillsboro News Times, she said, "I believe no one should have to use the streets as a waiting room for housing."

Pam Treece has represented District 2 since 2019 after serving as executive director of the West Side Economic Alliance and as a workforce executive at PacifiCorp. She has served on regional committees covering transportation, emergency preparedness and economic development.

Treece's top priority is affordability: more housing people can afford, good-paying jobs and keeping taxes and fees in check. She has endorsements from the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, the Washington County Police Officers Association and 10 local mayors.

After the Harrington incident, Treece returned a $10,000 campaign contribution from Harrington on Sept. 17 and removed Harrington's endorsement from her website, the Beaverton Valley Times reported.

Heading into the May primary, Treece had raised nearly $325,000 and Fai roughly $292,000, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive's primary guide. Those figures are months old and may not reflect current totals.

District 4: Callaway vs. Sinclair

District 4 covers western Washington County, including most of Hillsboro, North Plains, Cornelius and Forest Grove. The seat opens because Commissioner Jerry Willey announced plans to retire in 2025. The position pays $136,161 a year.

Steve Callaway, former Hillsboro mayor from 2016 through 2024, led the six-candidate May primary with 32.9%. Before serving as mayor, he worked as a teacher and school administrator and served on the Hillsboro City Council starting in 2010. He has raised $112,562 as of early October, with endorsements from Willey, Hillsboro Mayor Beach Pace and Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Callaway says affordability is his top concern, citing rising costs for housing, transportation and everyday necessities. On data centers, he told The Oregonian/OregonLive in October that he would "insist on facts, transparency and public involvement before major decisions are made."

Kipperlyn Sinclair, a Hillsboro city councilor elected in 2022, finished second in May with 21.4%. She founded Grandma Chonga's Salsa, a farm-to-table business, and co-founded Eat Drink Washington County to support local agriculture. She has also served as a Hillsboro planning commissioner.

Sinclair has made data center growth her signature issue. She was the first elected official in Washington County to call for a data center moratorium and helped pass a 120-day halt on new developments in Hillsboro. She has raised $20,737, with backing from the Oregon Working Families Party, SEIU Oregon and the Washington County Democrats.

Ballots arrive in mailboxes starting Wednesday, Oct. 14, and the new chair takes office Jan. 3, 2027.