Clackamas County voters will decide on races for three county commissioner positions, including Melissa Fireside’s former seat.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. — Two of three incumbents on the Clackamas County board of commissioners took substantial leads in initial results Tuesday night for the 2026 Primary Election, while the third race remained much closer.
In the May primary, three county commissioner seats are up for election this year, including for Position 4, which has been embroiled in controversy for years.
In all of these races, if a candidate receives a simple majority vote, then the candidate is elected in May’s election. If no candidate receives a simple majority vote, the top two vote-getters will appear in November’s general election ballot.
Clackamas County Commissioner – Position 2 (four-year term)
This race has an incumbent, two former Clackamas County commissioners, and a few newcomers with no political experience.
Incumbent Paul Savas has been on the job for 15 years, but Jim Bernard and Mark Shull want to get back in the saddle. Bernard has a long resume as previous Milwaukie mayor, former Clackamas County commissioner and former Clackamas County chair, while Shull had one term before being defeated by Melissa Fireside in 2024 (more below).
Initial results Tuesday evening showed Savas in the lead by a large margin, with Shull narrowly ahead of Bernard for second place. However, Savas was still well short of the 50% mark required to win outright. If subsequent updates don’t change that, he will face either Shull or Bernard in a November runoff.
Clackamas County Commissioner – Position 4 (two-year term)
It’s safe to say Clackamas County Commissioner’s Position 4 seat has been through a lot of upheaval.
Recently, until the end of 2024, the seat was held by Shull, who would periodically make xenophobic and conspiracy-fueled statements. But in the November election, Shull was defeated by Melissa Fireside.
Two months later, Fireside was indicted on felony charges for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from an elderly man, her mother’s boyfriend. Days later, Fireside resigned from the commission, then fled the country with her son ahead of trial.
Shull tried to return to his old seat, but the commission chose former Damascus mayor Diana Helm, who has held the position since and is running to keep that seat for the remainder of the term — from January 2027 to December 2028. Helm is facing six other candidates. (Shull is running for the county commissioner No. 2 spot.)
Initial results Tuesday evening showed Helm with a large lead over all of her competitors, though still well short of the 50% mark needed to win outright, likely setting her up for a November runoff against the second-place finisher.
Clackamas County Commissioner – Position 5 (four-year term)
Sonya Fischer is seeking a rematch against incumbent Ben West. Initially appointed to the commission in 2017, Fischer was then elected to a full term in 2018 but ultimately lost her 2022 reelection bid to West.
Despite partisan divides on issues such as immigration enforcement, Fischer and West, a former Wilsonville city councilor and current OHSU nurse, both say in their candidate statements that they are opposed to gas tax hikes included in the referendum Measure 120.
Initial results Tuesday evening showed Fischer ahead, though by a much smaller margin than the leads Savas and Helm opened up in their own races. With only two candidates in the race, the winner will take the seat directly, without the need for a November runoff.
