If nothing else, these last two years running What’s Happening Salem have taught me that the people who don’t like Mayor Julie Hoy, really don’t like her. 

Earlier today I asked my audience who they would be voting for, and the energy online clearly favors Vanessa Nordyke. 

I have a poll going online right now:

First, the thing I know some of you don't want to hear: I'm genuinely not passionate about who wins this race. I know that's frustrating for people who've wanted me to pick a side (their side). 

I get it.

I've considered both candidates friends. I met Julie Hoy when I worked at the Chamber of Commerce, where she served on the board and ran Greeters. She agreed to be interviewed for a documentary I put together about the homeless crisis in Salem, and I was grateful she joined the podcast a couple months ago. Between those two interactions, she largely kept her distance from this platform. Declined to come on the podcast the first couple of times we reached out. Could be an intentional strategy. Could just be a busy schedule. I honestly don't know.

Vanessa and I text occasionally, and she's been a guest on this platform more than any other local politician. She's also made me what she calls a campaign promise: if she wins, I'd become her "special liaison" helping elevate community events in Salem.

That's worth naming directly, since I've heard whispers that some wonder if I'm a paid promoter for her campaign. I understand why it looks that way. She was on the page and Julie wasn't. But I want to be clear, that was never because only one candidate was invited. I've also heard the opposite take. Someone on Reddit recently described WHS as a propaganda platform for the Hoy campaign after we featured her in a few clips. 

So if you've decided I'm trying to get you to vote for one of them, just know there's someone else who has decided I'm trying to get you to vote for the other one. Make of that what you will.

Their backgrounds could not be more different. Mayor Hoy's professional experience comes as a business owner, she's been the owner and operator of Geppetto's Italian Restaurant for the last nine years. Vanessa Nordyke spent over 14 years as Senior Assistant Attorney General before transitioning to Executive Director of CASA of Marion County in 2023.

Their styles on the campaign trail have been just as different. Nordyke has shown up to every forum, debate, and public event she's been invited to. Hoy has been more selective, declining several debate invitations including one from the Salem Reporter. At the WHS-hosted debate in March, one of the few she did attend, Hoy closed with a line that got significant attention online: "I'm a child of God, and I am doing his work, and I believe that. I will not waver from that."

People had a lot of feelings about it. 

Councilor Vanessa Nordyke’s online community is loud about their support for her. And they are even louder about their dislike for the current Mayor Hoy. They don’t like who funds her campaign, the business community and local developers. They don’t like how she handles meetings. And they really don’t like how she handled her recent ethics violation. 

If you are out of the loop…get caught up here.

The tl:dr version..

I had Mayor Hoy on the podcast and didn’t ask her about it. You all did not like this at all.

So I asked her about it, and this is what she told me:

“I want to be clear: throughout this process, I have been truthful in describing my actions. At no point did I ask my colleagues how they intended to vote, and I took care to stay within the boundaries as I understood them. Like any leader, I’m always looking for ways to improve how I serve the people of Salem, and I will take to heart any guidance that helps me do that more effectively.

At the same time, I cannot agree to or sign a statement that requires me to affirm something I do not believe to be true. I am grateful for our new City Manager. Krishna’s leadership has been crucial for the work we have been able to accomplish this past year. My focus remains where it has always been, on doing the work, serving this community with integrity, and continuing the progress we’ve made together.”

As the Salem Reporter noted, The commission’s ruling centers on the fact that councilors discussed public business out of public view, not whether Hoy was truthful in her conversations with other councilors.

Councilor Nordyke was also cited in the same investigation. She was one of the five councilors found to have participated in the illegal serial meeting. She accepted the commission's findings, signed the agreement, and closed her case. That's to her credit. But it's worth knowing that the candidate running against Hoy on an ethics platform was herself found to have broken the same law, she just handled it differently.

After the election is over, this will likely become a non topic. Everyone seems to have a good working relationship with the current city manager. The budget is in a better place than it has been in recent memory. There is far less animosity amongst our city councilors than there were two years ago. 

“Residents in Salem overwhelmingly said Salem was headed in the wrong direction before Julie became mayor and a livability levy failed to pass. Julie becomes mayor and residents start to believe in her humble approach to servant leadership. Faith in local government increases, livability levy passes stabilizing city income and core services.” said former Salem City Councilor and Hoy supporter TJ Sullivan.

The campaign against Nordyke has centered on her vote to re-appoint Kyle Hedquist to the city's Community Police Review Board. Hedquist is a convicted murderer who served nearly 30 years in prison before having his sentence commuted by Governor Kate Brown in 2022.

A few things the attack ads leave out: the original 2024 appointment was unanimous, including Hoy, because background checks weren't being conducted on board applicants at the time. When the reappointment came up in December 2025, Nordyke voted yes. Her reasoning, in her own words via a post on Facebook, "By all accounts, he's been a productive, contributing member of our community with no new criminal history in decades. He's now a college graduate and a strong example of successful rehabilitation. The fact that he served on CPRB already and even completed a police ride-along without incident made a positive impression on me." 

After the police and fire unions pushed back, she reversed course, advanced the motion to remove him, and the council voted 6-2 to withdraw his appointments, per the Salem Reporter

Marion Polk First has been running Meta ads and mailers with the headline: "Vanessa Nordyke Put a Convicted Murderer on Salem's Police Review Board. She's Dangerous for Salem." You now have the full picture. Draw your own conclusions.

Nordyke responded to the broader campaign, “​​Voters expect candidates to come before them to answer their questions. In this election, we’ve seen the mayor decline to appear at four candidate forums. Now there are thousands of dollars being spent on misleading attack ads. I believe that Salem will see which candidate is doing the work to earn their support and bring our city together, and which is seeking election on a lazy and sad strategy.” 

Her critics see her as too ideologically progressive for a city that's been trending toward practical, back-to-basics governance.

One thing worth noting: the opposition to each candidate shows up very differently. Nordyke's critics are mostly organized and institutional. PACs like Marion Polk First, the Chamber's endorsement, coordinated mailers, paid Meta ads. Hoy's critics are mostly online and grassroots. Reddit threads, Facebook comment sections, etc. Neither form of opposition is more legitimate than the other. Both are real. Both count. 

But they reveal something about the coalitions behind each candidate. Nordyke has the reach of the internet. Hoy has the backing of Salem's established business and civic institutions. How you feel about that probably says more about which Salem you live in than anything about either candidate.

So for everyone out there who is still undecided, I figured the least I can do is tell you what each candidate is saying they'll do if they win. I pulled this from their websites and from their recent Capitol Community Media interviews.

What she's accomplished as Mayor:

Her three priorities:

In her Capitol Community Media interview, Hoy talked in depth about the REACH team, which pairs a fire department EMT with a Marion County mental health associate to respond to people on the streets outside of the ER or jail system. She pointed to the new Bridgeway facility, adding seven sobering beds and 40 medical detox beds, as a real gap being filled. She was candid about the ODOT property situation, noting that the 10-day post-and-clear window is routinely stretching to six or eight weeks, and that she wants the state doing more than just clearing camps without actually helping the people in them.

On water, she described visiting Detroit Lake multiple times with the Army Corps of Engineers to understand the drawdown risk firsthand. She pointed to the city digging wells and exploring a connection to Keizer's water system as contingency options, and credited the public works department for quietly staying ahead of the problem. She noted that in 2024 the city handled a saxitoxin level of 18 in the water supply — more than four times the level that shut down drinking water in 2018 — without the public ever hearing about it, because the treatment systems the city built worked.

Her pitch: Salem was headed in the wrong direction. I've spent the last year getting it back on track.

What she's promising:

What she's already done:

In her Capitol Community Media interview, Nordyke framed homelessness fundamentally as a housing affordability problem, not just a drug or mental health crisis. Her position is that outreach teams, case managers, and treatment all matter, but none of it works without somewhere affordable to land at the end. She also flagged the waste management situation as an unresolved issue worth watching, noting the closure of the Covanta incinerator has left the city without a clear long-term plan for where garbage goes — and that Marion County residents, including people in Keizer, will feel the cost of that gap in their garbage bills.

Her pitch: I've been doing this work. I know how it works. Let me keep going.

They agree on more than the campaigns want to admit. Both oppose new taxes without voter approval. Both are focused on homelessness and public safety. Both talk about regional coordination. If you read the two CCM interviews back to back, the policy daylight between them is smaller than either campaign would like you to believe.

The real difference is theory of the case.

Vanessa thinks Salem's problems are rooted in affordability, and that you can't arrest or outreach your way out of a housing shortage. Julie thinks Salem's problems are rooted in execution, and that the city was mismanaging itself into a crisis before she got there. One is making a case for vision. The other is making a case for steadiness.

Nordyke is asking for a bigger swing. Hoy is asking for steady hands. That's the whole race, underneath the mailers and the Reddit threads and the attack ads. Everything else is noise.

Your ballot arrives April 29th. Vote.