They may be running in the same election, but the campaign finances of each of the Washington County commission candidates tell a different story.
Two seats on the Washington County Board of Commissioners are up for grabs in the May 21 election, each sought after by two candidates.
Incumbent Commissioner Nafisa Fai will run against Jenny Kamprath for the District 1 seat, representing Aloha, Beaverton, Cooper Mountain, Garden Home, Whitford and portions of Raleigh Hills.
Candidates Peter Huhtala and Jason Snider are running for the District 3 seat, which covers southeast Washington County and is currently occupied by outgoing Commissioner Roy Rogers.
District 1 race
Fai has nearly double the available funds as Kamprath, with the candidates’ campaign account balances sitting at $9,555 and $5,271 respectively, as of Thursday, May 2.
In terms of campaign contributions — or donations to the candidates’ campaigns — Fai has received nearly five times as much as Kamprath at $29,308 in 2024, as of May 2.
The largest of those contributions was $5,000 from the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors PAC, a political action committee dedicated to real estate professionals’ interests. The committee has also contributed to Snider’s campaign. The second largest donation to Fai’s campaign is $3,000 from the Professional Firefighters’ PAC.
Fai has also received contributions from the Washington County Democratic Central Committee, the Washington County Chamber PAC, the Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee, Willamette Women Democrats PAC, the Portland Alliance PAC and more.
Fai’s other campaign finance contributions read like a log of local Democrats, including $500 each from the campaign accounts of Gov. Tina Kotek, Rep. Andrea Valderrama (D-Outer East Portland) and former state representative Jeff Barker, and $300 from the campaign account of Sen. Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego).
Rep. Susan McClain (D-Hillsboro) has contributed $300 to Fai’s campaign. Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran and Fai’s fellow Washington County Commissioner Pam Treece have both donated $250. Dick Shouten, the former Washington County District 1 commissioner, has donated $200, and so have Beaverton City Council President Edward Kimmi and Metro councilors Christine Lewis and Gerritt Rosenthal. Hillsboro City Council candidate Elizabeth Case and Metro Council President Lynn Peterson have both contributed $101.
Kamprath’s campaign contributions total $5,893 as of May 2. Just over a third of that amount came from two donations of $1,000 each from the Washington County Republican Central Committee and Helen Heller, who was elected as a precinct committeeperson for the Washington County Republican Party in 2022.
Former Washington County Commissioner Bob Terry has donated $500 to Kamprath's campaign, and Kim Rice, who ran for the District 18 state senate seat in 2022, donated $115. Gabriel Buehler, a 2022 Republican primary candidate for the District 25 state House of Representatives seat, has donated $100.
In terms of expenditures, Kamprath’s campaign spending is dwarfed by Fai’s.
As of May 2, Kamprath has spent $622, about 70% of which went to MPG Marketing & Mailing Services for printing. The rest of the funds have gone to miscellaneous cash expenditures of $100 or less.
Fai, on the other hand, has spent $29,027 as of May 2. About $12,500 went to Morel Ink for mailing and list services, as well as printed campaign literature. Fai also paid Praxis Political LLC — a campaign management company that has worked on a slew of other local campaigns — about $7,600 for communications and advertising services.
As a reimbursement for personal expenditures, Fai paid herself about $1,150. Other significant expenditures include about $3,000 for payroll services through ADP and about $2,400 to campaign finance management company C&E Systems.
Fai also spent $900 for photography through Naim Hasan Photography, $407 for event space rental through Tualatin Hills Nature Services and $350 for voter file access through the Democratic Party of Oregon Federal PAC.
The majority of other expenses have been for general operations or miscellaneous items.
District 3 Race
The difference in campaign finances in the race for the District 3 seat on the Washington County Board of Commissioners is even more striking.
Candidate Jason Snider has a total account balance of $19,959 as of May 2, bolstered by $42,097 in contributions — the most of any candidate in the Washington County races — and reduced $31,809 in expenditures this year (for those of you doing the math at home, balances from previous calendar years carry over).
Conversely, candidate Peter Huhtala has filed a Certificate of Limited Contributions and Expenditures, which does not require public reporting of campaign financial information until transaction have exceeded $3,500.
As of now, Huhtala has not reached that threshold, and said he has not had any individual contributions of more than $250.
"Our intention is to demonstrate that large sums of money are not needed to win or place well in these races," Huhtala said. "I believe I will win while spending less than $5,000."
The largest contributor to Snider’s campaign is the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors, which donated $30,000. The committee often donates large sums of money to candidates and action groups, such as $20,000 for Clackamas County candidate Melissa Fireside and $50,000 for United for Portland.
The second largest contribution is $2,500 from AMR Holdco, Inc. — the emergency medical services provider that Washington County recently contracted with , and Snider's former employer more than two decades ago.
Snider has also received $2,000 from the Professional Firefighters PAC, $1,500 total from Pride Disposal & Recycling and $1,000 from Oregonians for Affordable Housing. The Portland General Electric Employee Candidate Assistance Fund and the Washington County Chamber PAC have contributed $500 each. The Northwest Oregon Labor Council, AFL-CIO and the Willamette Women Democrats PAC have donated $250 each.
King City Council President Marc Manelis has donated $500, and so has former Tigard City Councilor Tom Anderson. Washington County Commissioner Jerry Willey, former Tigard City Councilor Liz Newton, current Tualatin Mayor Frank Bubenik and former Tigard Mayor John Cook have all donated $250 to the campaign. Rep. Ben Bowman has donated $250 as an individual, and another $250 from his campaign.
Washington County Commissioner Pam Treece, Tigard-Tualatin School Board member Crystal Weston and former King City Mayor Ken Gibson have each contributed $200.
The bulk of Snider’s expenditures consist of about $10,000 to Oregon Data for postage services and another $10,000 to Minuteman Press for campaign literature.
Other significant expenses include about $3,000 each to Pamplin Media Group and Tigard Life for print advertising. About $3,400 more has been spent on advertising through various other channels.
Snider’s campaign also donated $500 to Community Action, a social services organization that aids low-income families.
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