While it feels like the May primary vote just happened, the November General Election is right around the corner. Certain local candidates such as anyone interested in running for election to one of four spots open on the Grants Pass City Council only have a little over one month to turn in all their paperwork.
While elections to County positions have a May primary and then a November General Election vote, many smaller or medium sized cities and districts have one single opportunity for candidates to run, usually just in May or November. For the City of Grants Pass, every two years one of the two Council positions in each of the four wards is up for election in the General Election of even numbered years. There will be at least four of the eight Grants Pass City Council positions up for election this November.
For most smaller or medium-sized cities and districts in Oregon, serving as an elected official is a labor of love. In the case of serving as a Grants Pass City Council member, there is no financial compensation and you’ll want to set aside at least 5-10 hours a week on average just to keep up. Some weeks require more hours, especially when the eight city councilors all have slightly different opinions of an issue in front of them.
I personally ran for a position on the Grants Pass City Council for the first time back in November 2024. I often wonder how some of the split Council votes would have gone in 2025 and 2026 had I been in that position, but I count it as a blessing in disguise that I didn’t win. For me, life has been busy lately…so busy that I’m not running again this year. However, I will reconsider running again in a couple years. Most elected positions are big time commitments.
Despite all Grants Pass and Josephine County elected positions being “nonpartisan” per the Charter of each agency, in recent years most local City, County, and School District elections have been extremely partisan in nature when it comes to how the two major political parties promoted their local candidates or preferred local candidates. And in 2024 the partisanship was much uglier than I expected at the local level.
In 2024, the dominant local Republican Party (just by the number of registered Republicans vs. Democrats in Josephine County) endorsed candidates in a way that was very divisive. Not all Republican candidates for local nonpartisan positions were even interviewed or considered in earnest when it came time to endorse a slate of candidates. Some Republican candidates were shunned by their own party without even getting an interview or being able to present to the party central committee.
In the July 2026 Josephine County Republican Central Committee meeting, the process of endorsing candidates for the November election was anything but settled. Let’s hope they at least wait for the filing deadline at the end of August and interview all Republicans running for local office. Because this is not what happened in 2024.
If you’re interested in running for local office and are not familiar with all the election rules and responsibilities of the position, make some time to talk to the local agency election official. Watch governing body meetings to stay up to date on what is going on, and talk to existing elected officials about what it’s like to serve and what the time commitment looks like for the position. And consider joining a committee as a starting point to get more involved in the areas of your interest.
And if you live in the city limits of Grants Pass and are interested in running for Council, make sure you understand which one of the four wards you live in, and talk to the incumbent. Grants Pass City Council members are elected at large by City voters, but must live within the ward for that position. There will be no incumbent for Ward 4 as Council Member Joel King retires from the Council after 8 years of serving. It’s probable Ward 2 will have an incumbent, and it’s not clear at this time whether there will be incumbents for Wards 1 and 3.