Candidates Set for Bend Mayoral and City Council Races in November

Tuesday, Aug. 25 at 5pm was the filing deadline for the Bend City Council and mayoral races that’ll be decided on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Two City Council positions are up for grabs, including Positions 5 and 6, both of which will feature uncontested races. Ariel Méndez currently holds Position 5, for which he’s running for reelection, while Elana Reinholtz is running uncontested for Position 6.

Two people are running for mayor of Bend. Candidates in the mayoral race, otherwise known as Position 7, include incumbent Melanie Kebler, who graduated from Bend Senior High School and earned a law degree from Lewis and Clark Law School. Her challenger is Bernadette Strome, also a Bend High alum and former student at Central Oregon Community College.

The term lengths for both the City Council and mayoral positions are four years. Méndez, a political science instructor at Oregon State University-Cascades, was first elected to his position in 2022, and is a previous board member for the Bend Park and Recreation District, a member of Bend’s Citywide Transportation Advisory Committee and past president of Bend Bikes. He’s been an advocate for active transportation and safe routes for children to use.

“We have a lot to be proud of, from reducing homelessness to winning federal grants that will help people get where they’re going quicker and safer. Personally, I’m most proud of seeing more kids getting to school walking and biking. We need more of that,” said Méndez. “Looking ahead, I will be focusing on improving transit and increasing commercial amenities in neighborhoods that need it. We need to be planting more trees and growing in a way that doesn’t just add to traffic and pollution. It’s a tall order but I think we can do it.”

Reinholtz, campaigning for Position 6 that’s currently held by Mike Riley, is head of development and marketing for Camp Fire Central Oregon and a Bend Budget Committee member. She’s already received endorsements from Oregon State Representative Emerson Levy and Bend Firefighters Local 227, among several others.

“I’m running to fight for working people to stay in Bend, for small businesses to thrive, and to address housing affordability,” Reinholtz said. “I am also running because I believe we need to make bold investments in sustainable infrastructure and wildfire resiliency.”

City Council and mayoral candidates must be U.S. citizens, at least 18 years of age, registered to vote and have lived in Bend for at least 12 months prior to the election date. Additionally, they can’t run concurrently for other open positions on the same ballot nor for a “lucrative office,” meaning it has a salary or “other compensation beyond expenses attached to it.”

There are six council members and the mayor, and while they’re not considered Bend city employees, they annually receive $30,000 and $50,000, respectively, from the City, “in recognition of their duties and to help reduce barriers to participation in City government.” They also receive health benefits and a $3,000 wellness stipend. Council members typically attend four evening Council meetings each month and serve on the city’s Budget Committee. They also might serve on the Bend Urban Renewal Agency Board and other local and regional committees.

To secure a spot on the November ballot, candidates had to complete the Oregon Secretary of State Form SEL 101, known as the Candidate Filing Form, and show proof of residency and complete the SEL 121 Candidate Signature Sheet with at least 150 signatures that are verified by the Deschutes County Clerk. According to the Secretary of State County, City, and Candidate Manual, those signatures must be collected and verified by the filing deadline for a candidate to be deemed “Certified for Ballot.” As of 5 pm on Aug. 25, Kebler, Méndez, Reinholtz and Strome were certified.

Ron “Rondo” Boozell filed to run for mayor, but didn’t get certified by Aug. 25. Boozell has run multiple times for City Council and other elected positions but has never won. [Editor’s note: this section has been updated from the original version of this story, to reflect Boozell’s failure to certify by the Aug. 25 deadline.] Boozell was arrested in May for trespassing at a Bend candidate forum. His arrest came after Bend police officers tried to convince him to leave. He refused and said, “he wanted to be arrested.”

For Position 6, Nic Tarter filed to be on the ballot but contacted The Source via email on Aug. 25 to say he was “unable to get the 150 signatures to qualify for the City Council ballot.” Additionally, Bobbi Cummiskey applied for candidacy in June but formally withdrew on Aug. 24, while Dan Sorrells was collecting the requisite 150 signatures to formalize his candidacy. However, he announced his withdrawal from the race on Aug. 11. In an Instagram post, he urged local candidates to pay attention to the needs of young people.

“They want aggressive and ambitious changes in Bend to make it livable for young people,” Sorrells wrote. “Please don’t stop short.”

This article appears in the Source August 27, 2026.