Oregon officials urge peaceful election in downtown Portland [Video]

PORTLAND, Ore. — Nearly a hundred Oregon leaders — including Gov. Tina Kotek, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Oregon Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden — are urging for “peaceful civic engagement” during election season. 

In an open letter released Tuesday evening, elected officials, as well as community, business and labor organizations, called on Oregonians to “uphold our tradition of respectful civic participation during this election season.”

The letter highlighted downtown Portland’s slow-emerging resurgence — both from the pandemic and various protests — and asked people to keep up that momentum.

“Portland’s ongoing recovery is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together constructively. But this progress is still fragile. The damage from past episodes of vandalism and violence didn’t just affect individual businesses — it impacted our entire …