Portland’s next mayor, Keith Wilson, spoke to a crowd of press and spectators at the Charles Jordan Community Center in North Portland on Thursday afternoon after results showed voters overwhelmingly elected him.

Always cheerful and positive, Wilson said he would do everything he could to create a safer, cleaner and more economically prosperous Portland.

“Voters aren’t interested in politicians pointing fingers at us, they just want us to get things done,” Wilson told a crowd of 200 people sitting in folding chairs and standing along the walls of the former gymnasium. “It’s time to end homelessness and open drug use and restore public safety to Portland.”

Wilson said he would approach the job with “humility.”

“There is a lot of work ahead of all of us,” Wilson said. “I’m up for the challenge.”

Three months ago, Wilson, owner of a trucking company called Titan Freight, was seen as a distant third contender in the mayoral race, failing to keep up with name recognition from sitting city commissioners. Carmen Rubio and René González, who also ran for mayor. for mayor. But as voters became increasingly aware of Rubio and González’s flaws, Wilson gained strength and regained Willamette Week‘s editorial support and generate support from a handful of unions.

On Wednesday afternoon, although more than 100,000 votes still remained to be counted, the results showed that Wilson had won the race by a landslide. He earned 35% of the first-place votes in the first round of counting, compared to 21% earned by Rubio and 19% earned by González. The redistribution of other rankings on ranked-choice ballots had little impact on his margin of victory.

Rubio and Gonzalez conceded the race to Wilson on Wednesday night and both wrote that they had called Wilson to congratulate him on the victory. Rubio wrote that serving on the City Council had been the “privilege of his life,” and Gonzalez wrote that it was time for Portlanders to “join him as we work to make Portland everything we want it to be.” (Rubio and González will end their terms on the City Council at the end of the year, as a new 12-person City Council will be seated at the beginning of the year.)

At the gym, Wilson apologized for the “basic” setup. In attendance were Rep. Earl Blumenaeuer, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan, and a handful of leading City Council candidates. “We are totally and completely broke,” Wilson joked, drawing laughter from the crowd. “We ran this campaign as if there were no tomorrow.”

Wilson says he has already spoken with Gov. Tina Kotek, Mayor Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Board President Jessica Vega Pederson and Metro President Lynn Peterson.

Wilson’s comments were brief and cheerful. The audience gave him a standing ovation at the end.

Wilson’s campaign focused almost entirely on a ambitious plan to end homeless homelessness within a year of taking office by installing low-cost night shelters every night. By Wilson’s calculations, once the city eliminates homelessness, it will save $300 million a year and be able to divert those dollars to bolster basic services like safer roads, more police officers and support for homeless people. small businesses.

In an August 21 profile of Wilson, WW wrote that veteran politicians considered Wilson’s plan not serious.

“We have communicated directly to Keith that, while we appreciate his urgency, we are deeply concerned that his promise to end homelessness in a single year falls into the same pattern as so many failed plans of the past,” Jon Isaacs, executive vice president . of public affairs at the Portland Metropolitan Chamber, said at the time.

But Wilson refuted that characterization at the time. “Why is maintaining the failed status quo,” he told WW, “considered ‘more serious’ than learning from what works?”

When Wilson takes office, he will supervise a city manager who handles all city offices and functions, while the 12-person City Council will set policy for the city. Wilson will not have a veto vote on the Council, but will have tie-breaking voting power.