Meet Mingus
Candidate for Portland Mayor
Growing up
Mingus Mapps learned the value of public service as a child. He grew up in a working-class family. Like many, his parents struggled to make ends meet.
When Mingus was young, after-school care didn’t exist. He would take the bus to the local welfare office where his mom worked and spend his afternoons there.
In that welfare office, Mingus saw how the government could help struggling people whose lives were similar to his family’s. He also learned the value of good customer service and treating people with respect and knew his life work would be helping others through public service.
“
Spending time in the welfare office where my mom worked really shaped me. I found my calling to government service. I want to be where the money meets the people, talking to the public, our customers, and finding the best possible ways to go about delivering services.
Mingus Mapps
Mingus spent his summers with his family exploring and playing in the majestic rivers and woods of the Pacific Northwest. Portland became his second home, laying the ground for his fondness of fresh air, kindness in strangers, creative artisans, and a caring community.
In the 70s and 80s, the push to open college admissions to students of color opened the doors for Mingus’ two aunts and an uncle to attend Reed College. Mingus followed their path in 1986 when he enrolled as an eager student at Reed College. He made lifelong friends and graduated in 1990 with a degree in political science.
Mingus’s first jobs out of college were with Multnomah County Commissioner Gladys McCoy, one of the first people of color to serve as an elected official in Oregon, and Multnomah County Commissioner Beverly Stein, who became one of his mentors. Mingus also worked as an Intergovernmental Relations Specialist at Portland Public Schools and a Planning Associate at United Way of Columbia-Willamette.
Mingus moved to the East Coast to become one of the few Black male students at Cornell University’s graduate program in Government. He earned his Ph.D. in 2004. His research focused on issues at the intersection of public policy, inequality, and race. He was a political professor at Brandeis University, Bowdoin College, and Portland State University. He also worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Right person, right time
Mingus returned to Portland to raise his two sons, Langston and Coltrane, now both in high school. They inspire his public service every day.
From 2015 to 2018, Mingus led the Historic Parkrose Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative—an urban renewal zone promoting equitable economic development in East Portland. He then worked in City Hall to support neighborhoods in the Office of Community and Civic Life.
In 2020, Mingus became the third Black man elected to the Portland City Council. He Oversaw the Bureau of Emergency Communications for two years. He then took over the Public Works portfolio (the largest portfolio of bureaus ever assembled by a sitting commissioner), overseeing the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), the Portland Water Bureau, and the Bureau of Environmental Services. This role involved overseeing over a third of all city employees, over half the entire City budget, and 95% of all public assets.
“Not only do I understand what needs to be fixed,
I’m one of the few in City government who knows how to get it done – and has the courage to get it right.”
– Mingus Mapps
Support local Change
Portland will match the first $20 of your donation 9-1 under Portland’s progressive small donor program.
Your first $20 will bring in $200 to the campaign!