BRO PAC Rescinds Endorsement of Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County Chair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2026

Media Contact
Kyndall Mason, Executive Director: kyndall@basicrights.org 

Basic Rights Oregon PAC Rescinds Endorsement of
Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County Chair

PORTLAND, Ore. — Basic Rights Oregon PAC has rescinded its endorsement of Julia Brim-Edwards for Multnomah County Chair following the emergence of new information that was not available to the PAC during its original endorsement process.

After reviewing the new information and reconsidering the endorsement, the PAC Board unanimously determined that Brim-Edwards does not embody the values Basic Rights Oregon PAC expects of candidates who carry its endorsement.

“Our endorsement is more than a name on a campaign website or a line in a voters’ pamphlet. It represents our trust that a candidate will stand with LGBTQ2SIA+ Oregonians — including when doing so is difficult, unpopular, or politically inconvenient,” said Kyndall Mason, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon PAC. “Based on information we learned after making our original endorsement, we no longer believe Julia Brim-Edwards meets that standard.”

Some of the information considered by the PAC Board was provided in confidence and will not be publicly disclosed. Basic Rights Oregon PAC takes both that confidentiality and its responsibility to the LGBTQ2SIA+ community seriously. The inability to publicly share those details does not change the Board’s responsibility to act when new information calls an endorsement into question.

Basic Rights Oregon PAC works toward an Oregon where every transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, two-spirit, intersex, asexual, and other LGBTQ+ person is not merely tolerated, but wholly accepted, valued, safe, and loved for who they are. That commitment is especially important at a time when transgender people are facing extraordinary political and cultural attacks across the country.

“No member of our community is expendable,” Mason said. “Our liberation is bound together. We will not ask transgender Oregonians to accept less dignity, less safety, or less belonging in exchange for political convenience. When we endorse someone, our community should be able to trust what that endorsement means.”

Basic Rights Oregon PAC has notified the Brim-Edwards campaign that the endorsement has been rescinded and has directed the campaign to discontinue representing Brim-Edwards as endorsed by Basic Rights Oregon PAC and to cease further use of the organization’s name, logo, or endorsement in campaign materials.

The PAC has also notified the Oregon Secretary of State’s Elections Division that its endorsement and any associated authorization to identify Basic Rights Oregon or Basic Rights Oregon PAC as an endorsing organization have been withdrawn.

Basic Rights Oregon PAC’s endorsement of Shannon Singleton for Multnomah County Chair remains unchanged.

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About Basic Rights Oregon PAC

The Basic Rights Political Action Committee is the political arm of Basic Rights Oregon. The PAC supports state and local candidates who champion LGBTQ+ equality and prioritize issues that disproportionately affect LGBTQ2SIA+ communities.

The PAC Board is composed entirely of LGBTQ+ Oregonians and is majority BIPOC. Board members are volunteers with lived experience in progressive advocacy in Oregon. Candidate endorsements are determined by a vote of the PAC Board, guided by Basic Rights Oregon’s mission to create lived equality for queer and trans Oregonians.

Basic Rights Oregon’s mission is to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, intersex, and asexual Oregonians experience equality by building a broad and inclusive politically powerful movement, shifting public opinion, and achieving policy victories.

Its vision is an Oregon in which all LGBTQ2SIA+ people live free from discrimination and are treated with dignity and respect in every community across the state.