Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney and her wife live in the Vernon neighborhood with their two kids. They've lived in Portland for over fifteen years and can’t imagine raising their kids anywhere else.
She's had many job titles over the years, but they’ve all boiled down to one thing: getting the right people to sit down around a table together, identify goals, and figure out how to get there. She helped raise Oregon’s minimum wage, she convened the group that wrote our State’s paid family-leave laws and built a team of activists who increased voter turnout and boosted civic engagement among union members.
She's been an organizer for labor unions, an advocate for working people, and a policy expert helping our State’s workforce programs prepare Oregonians for living-wage jobs. She was a member of Governor Kate Brown’s executive team, and built coalitions to develop energy-efficient code policies, expand workforce training opportunities, and pass Oregon’s first Governor-backed racial justice agenda. In 2022, she led the grassroots coalition that helped pass Measure 114, Oregon’s gun violence prevention ballot measure.
In 2024, she decided to run for office and was elected as District 2 City Councilor in November. She was elected Portland City Council President on January 2, 2025.