Vinis Will Run Again

Mayor Vinis announces re-election campaign on AM radio

Mayor Lucy Vinis announced her re-election campaign in the 2020 election during an interview on What’s Up Eugene? on KUGN. She followed the AM radio announcement with a short video on social media.

In the video, Vinis acknowledges the challenges of the unhoused crisis the city faces and says she’s used her leadership to tackle the problem.

“I’ve brought city councilors, businesses and neighborhood leaders together to find innovative solutions that help those most in need and ensure everyone can feel safe on our streets and in our parks,” she says.

Under Vinis’ leadership, the city, along with the Lane County government, paid for an East Coast consultant to help community leaders find solutions to the city’s unhoused problem. The council is still working toward those solutions.

Vinis’ tenure also saw some backlash as she supported a payroll tax passed by the City Council. The tax is on people who work inside the city limits to pay for increased public safety. The payroll tax came despite dissent from Springfield’s mayor, Christine Lundberg.

Vinis’ resume includes her support of ambitious goals for reducing emissions and investing in local transit to address climate change. As state legislators hit the road to hear from residents, Vinis testified in a Springfield public hearing. Although the city has implemented a climate action plan, projections show Eugene wouldn’t meet its carbon reduction goals. If state legislators had passed Clean Energy Jobs, the cap and trade policy would have gotten the city within 5 percent of its goals.

Leading up to the 2016 election, Vinis’ campaign contributions included sizable donations from SEIU, AFSCME, Oregon League of Conservation Voters Political Action Committee and Eugene Education Association. In 2018, the Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee contributed $2,500 to Vinis’ committee.

Vinis will officially file for re-election when the filing period opens Sept. 12, her campaign says.

The mayor receives a $1,500 monthly stipend and serves a four-year term.

Watch her video re-election announcement below: