by Hannah Wallace, Oregon Capital Chronicle
October 28, 2024
When Shannon Isadore applied for Emerge Oregon’s 12-week class, she had no intention of becoming a politician.
Founder and CEO of the Oregon Change Clinic, an addiction and mental health treatment provider for people of color, she planned to begin a Ph.D. program in international leadership at the end of the year. But a friend told her Emerge helped women build networks so she signed up.
Now, she’s headed to Salem, after being picked to temporarily fill an open Portland-based legislative seat. She’s just one of the organization’s success stories. Emerge Oregon is the premiere training organization for Democratic women in the state. Another organization, Vote Run Lead Action, has trained women to run for office since 2022.
Since Emerge Oregon was founded in 2009, it has trained over 400 women, and more than 100 of them are serving in office right now.
“We have win rates of 80 to 90% per year, year after year,” said Annie Ellison, outgoing executive director. “The two things we really stress are ‘The authentic you is the electable you,’ – whoever that is. And ‘the right race at the right time.’ If you run the right race at the right time as your authentic self, you are probably going to win.”
The Oregon organization is one of 27 state chapters of Emerge, which was founded in California by a political activist in 2002. Nationally, the organization has trained more than 6,000 women through state and national programs. Over 1,200 Emerge grads hold elected office today nationwide.
One of them may soon be headed to the Oval Office. Twenty-two years ago, a woman ran for district attorney in San Francisco. She was having a hard time raising money and was critiqued for being too shrill and having a loud laugh.
“She had this group of women friends come around her and help her fundraise, take her calls at 1 a.m., all that stuff,” Ellison said. “She got elected as San Francisco’s district attorney.”
The new DA?
Kamala Harris.
We have win rates of 80 to 90% per year, year after year.
– Annie Ellison, outgoing executive director of Emerge Oregon
In Oregon, Emerge grads are ubiquitous. They are leaders in both legislative houses: Rep. Julie Fahey, speaker of the House, and state Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Taylor are alumnae. Sarah Finger MacDonald, who won the May primary for the Corvallis-based 16th House District, is likely to win in the blue district in November. She was in the most recent Emerge class along with a handful of young women running for Portland City Council this year, including Mariah Hudson, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo.
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas is an Emerge graduate as is U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle. And Maxine Dexter, who stepped down from the seat that Isadore now represents and is likely to win her bid for the 3rd Congressional District, also graduated from the 70-hour course.
Emerge Oregon alumnae also have scored many firsts: Michelle DePass, who is running for the Portland City Council, was the first Black woman to chair the Portland School Board. And Dr. Karen Perez Da Silva, the first Latina on the Beaverton School Board, also became the first Latina to chair the board.
Ellison said it’s a sign of the organization’s success that two alumnae recently ran against one another in a Democratic primary for Congress.
“When I see Maxine Dexter and Susheela Jayapal running in the same race – the goal was always that we would have excellent women candidates, right? And when the bench is strong, the starting line-up – it’s competitive to be on it. And that’s where we’re at,” Ellison said. Emerge Oregon has a slew of success stories. (Courtesy of Andie Petkus Photography)
A case study
Before this year’s Emerge classes began, Dexter announced she would be running for Earl Blumenauer’s seat in Congress. That meant her Portland-based 33 House District seat might be up for grabs.
That grabbed Isadore’s attention.
“So imagine: I’m in District 33, where Representative Dexter is vacating her seat. And the issues that I’ve dedicated my life to working on are the issues that are of concern to Oregonians: addiction, mental health, and housing,” Isadore told the Capital Chronicle.
Her 24 Emerge sisters pushed her to run. A former marine, Isadore grew up in northeast Portland, not far from the 33rd District. She’s an expert in behavioral health care, a big problem in Oregon.
But she was dogged with doubts about running. “I’m saying, ‘No way! I don’t have the knowledge or support. Plus, time out: I’m busy!’”
The women in her class persisted.
“‘Shannon: I think you can do this,’” Isadore remembered them saying.
Along with Ellison, they didn’t give up, relentlessly pushing her forward, Isadore said. And guest speakers, who coach the aspiring candidates on everything from fundraising to endorsements, also told Isadore they needed her perspective in Salem.
“I started to get this ‘wind beneath my wings’ thing happening,” she said.
I started to get this ‘wind beneath my wings’ thing happening.
– Shannon Isadore, represents 33rd House District
If elected in November as expected, she would be the only Black woman in the Legislature, filling a role now held by Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum, who’s locked in a tight race for the 5th Congressional District.
Isadore’s campaign became a case study for her Emerge class. Within weeks, she had crafted a stump speech, prepped for endorsement interviews and learned how to fundraise.
Isadore said she’ll never forget the day they visited the Capitol building in Salem and met Bynum.
“‘You can do this,’” Bynum told Isadore. ‘We need you!’”
She heard similar feedback from Democratic Reps. Rob Nosse and Travis Nelson, who represent Portland districts in Salem.
“I got so inspired that I filed right then,” Isadore said. U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, the Democratic incumbent of the 6th Congressional District, is an Emerge graduate. (Courtesy of Andie Petkus Photography)
Ethical fallout
Emerge Oregon has done a lot in recent years to make the program accessible to everyone. Emerge’s Signature Program, which costs $800, is held over nine Saturdays so working women can attend. The organization also offers short bootcamps that cost $500. Emerge teaches candidates how to fundraise for the tuition to both programs, but the organization also offers a payment plan over the course of five months.
“Cost is never a barrier,” Ellison said.
The organization also provides child care, gas cards and free lunches each Saturday the cohort meets.
During the training, which is mostly in person, candidates workshop their stump speech and practice in front of the entire class. Another full day – “Know Your Numbers” – is devoted to fundraising.
The program also covers ethics and includes discussion of Shemia Fagan, a member of Emerge Oregon’s inaugural class. Fagan served in both the state House and Senate and was elected secretary of state. She seemed destined for even bigger things – the governor’s office or Congress – but Fagan resigned as Secretary of State in May of 2023 in disgrace. She was moonlighting for La Mota, a company in the cannabis industry. Paid $10,000 a month, she took the job while the Secretary of State’s Office was auditing the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, which oversees the cannabis industry. One of La Mota’s owners, Rosa Cazares, also held fundraisers for Fagan and donated tens of thousands of dollars to her campaign.
Ellison said Emerge Oregon has always included “Ethical Leadership” in its curriculum, a segment that covers everything from conflicts of interest to what donors might ask of candidates.
“The first thing we do is say, ‘Read the Oregon Government Ethics Commission’s Guide for Public Officials,’” Ellison said. The ethics portion of the program hasn’t changed much since 2009, but Ellison said Emerge has “built out” the example scenarios it uses, including talking about Fagan’s missteps.
The fallout also affected Emerge directly. Before Fagan resigned in 2023, Cazares was slated to become the new chair of Emerge Oregon’s board. That never happened.
The organization has also faced criticism on its programs. Ellison said Emerge has made an effort to attract more women of color, but some Emerge grads have been critical of aspects of the program. Isadore, the only Black woman in her cohort, said she had a positive experience at Emerge but said there’s room for improvement.
“I still believe it’s a space (that) people of color – particularly Black women – don’t know as well,” she said. “I want it to be a place where Black, Indigenous and people of color can also get to know about it and get the support that they need.” Democratic women who take the Emerge Oregon course not only learn how to get elected, they also join a tribe. (Courtesy of Andie Petrus Photography)
Close-knit group
Jessica Sollaccio, who has two kids and a background in public health policy, was in the class with Isadore. She, too, said being surrounded by encouraging classmates boosted her confidence.
During the class, Sollaccio applied for and was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Warrenton City Commission. Now she’s campaigning for her seat. Thanks to Emerge, she said she knows how to canvass effectively, write a Voters’ Pamphlet statement and craft a strong stump speech.
But she said her most valuable asset from the Emerge training is having a strong network of women she can call on when she’s stuck.
And they stay in touch. Even though the last class was in May, some of her classmates have reached out in recent weeks, asking if she needs help or wants to canvass together for other classmates like Isadore.
At her first Emerge classes, Sollaccio was two months postpartum and had to pump milk. She was self-conscious about how that would go, but said others put her at ease.
“Someone was like, ‘Girl do you need a fridge? Do you need to store that?’” Sollaccio said.
She brought her baby to every class after that.
“When I did my stump speech, there were always hands to hold her,” Sollaccio said.
That kind of sisterhood is one of the things that makes the program special, graduates say.
Val Hoyle, who is running for reelection in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, said she wouldn’t have joined Emerge Oregon’s inaugural class in 2009 if it weren’t for another female politician.
Until then, her political involvement had been limited to helping progressive candidates get elected. Her state senator at the time, Democrat Vicki Walker, who represented the Eugene-based 7th House District, encouraged her to take the training, which cost $250 at the time.
“I did not have $250,” Hoyle said.
“I learned how to present myself as a candidate, as opposed to the person behind the scenes helping the candidate,” Hoyle said.
– Val Hoyle, represents Oregon’s 4th Congressional District When Walker called her to ask if she’d completed the application the day before it was due, Hoyle said “no” because she couldn’t afford it.
“Well, I paid it, and you’ve got 24 hours. Don’t make me waste my money,” Hoyle remembered Walker saying.
Hoyle did not. She ran for the Oregon House while she was taking the class.
“I learned how to present myself as a candidate, as opposed to the person behind the scenes helping the candidate,” Hoyle said.
She was elected in 2010 to represent the 14th House District in Lane County, and eight years later she became Oregon’s labor commissioner. In 2022, she was elected to succeed Democrat Peter DeFazio, who represented the 4th Congressional District for 36 years.
She is now in a competitive reelection campaign, facing fire over her leadership as labor commissioner and relationship with La Mota’s co-owner, Cazares.
Willamette Week endorsement
At first, Isadore had some anxiety about running against two men – a lawyer and a doctor. But when she arrived in April for her Willamette Week endorsement interview – early, as Ellison had advised – she had time to get comfortable in the space, say hello to staffers and generally calm her nerves. Then her two opponents, also political neophytes, arrived and they seemed nervous themselves.
That gave her more confidence.
After the interviews, Willamette Week endorsed Isadore, saying that by opening Oregon Change Clinic she had “accomplished the public health equivalent of taking an enemy beachhead” – “exactly the kind of response to Portland’s addiction disaster that the state needs to replicate a hundredfold.”
Isadore won the May primary with 51.5% of the vote against Dr. Brian Duty and Pete Grabiel, and in late September, Multnomah and Washington county commissioners appointed her to fill Dexter’s seat.
If she wins the election in November, she’ll serve a full two-year term and face reelection in 2026.
But next time, she won’t be a newcomer.
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