Commissioner Pam Treece has raised roughly $100,000 more in cash than Commissioner Nafisa Fai in the Washington County chair race.

Campaign finance records first reported by the Beaverton Valley Times show the gap widening as ballots are out for the Nov. 3 runoff. As of Oct. 22, Treece had collected $442,865 in cash contributions and spent $288,135. Fai had raised nearly $336,968 in cash but pulled in $80,097 in in-kind donations, bringing her total contributions to $417,065. Fai has spent $409,579.

The two commissioners advanced to the runoff after neither won a majority in the May 19 primary. Fai led that three-candidate field with 39.1% of the vote; Treece received 33.1%. Ballots were mailed Oct. 14.

The county chair leads the five-member Board of Commissioners and represents all of Washington County, including unincorporated communities like Bethany, Cedar Mill and Oak Hills. The seat opened after former Chair Kathryn Harrington resigned effective Oct. 2.

Where the money comes from

The two campaigns draw from starkly different donor pools.

Treece's single largest contributor is Timothy Boyle, CEO of Columbia Sportswear, who gave $40,000 across three installments. Nike co-founder Phil Knight donated $20,000 in April. Jeff Swickard, manager of Las Vegas-based Swickard Management Company, gave $25,000.

Business and trade groups also backed Treece. The Local 48 Electricians PAC gave $40,000 total. The Washington County Chamber of Commerce PAC contributed $27,000, and the Portland Alliance PAC, affiliated with the Portland Metro Chamber, gave $20,000.

Treece's financial disclosures show she returned a $10,000 contribution from Harrington on Sept. 16. That was the day after Harrington appeared to direct an obscene gesture at Fai during a Sept. 15 board work session, an incident that OPB reported drew widespread condemnation. Treece said at the time that Harrington's behavior "cannot stand" and removed Harrington's endorsement from her campaign website.

Fai's funding leans on labor unions and progressive organizations. SEIU Local 49's COPE Fund gave $30,000 total. Oregon AFSCME 75 contributed $25,000 in cash plus $6,686 in in-kind support. Washington County Ignite, which supports progressive Black, Indigenous and people of color and LGBTQ+ communities, provided $23,292 in cash and in-kind donations. The Oregon Working Families Party gave more than $16,700 in in-kind contributions.

SEIU Local 503, OPEU, a separate union, added $14,200 to Fai's campaign.

Among individual donors to Fai, Abdifatah Ahmed, a self-employed driver, contributed $8,500. Sandra Comstock, founder of Portland nonprofit Hygiene4All, gave $5,500.

Treece, a commissioner since 2019, previously worked as a workforce executive at PacifiCorp and led a regional economic development organization, according to her candidate questionnaire. Fai, a refugee from Somalia who has lived in Oregon for about 30 years, became the first Black and first Muslim commissioner on the Washington County board when she was elected in 2020.

Voters must return ballots by Nov. 3.