Someone filed paperwork for an accused nonprofit leader to run for City Council, but he says he won’t run

On August 14, the City of Portland Elections Office received a filing from a new candidate, a prerequisite to appearing on the November 2024 ballot for one of Portland’s 12 new City Council seats.

Nearly 100 candidates have filed to run, but the name on the Aug. 14 filing stood out: Devon Horace, the former president of the nonprofit Alberta Main Street.

Earlier this year, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office charged Horace with theft and falsifying business records related to his role at Alberta Main Street. The case is ongoing.

Even stranger: Horace says he is not a candidate.

“I will not be running for City Council and I wish all the candidates running the best,” Horace wrote in a Sept. 4 email to World. He declined to comment further on the candidate’s filing, declining to say whether he had filed or not.

Elections Bureau Division Director Deborah Scroggin says her office is rejecting Horace’s filing in part because court records suggest Horace currently lives in Seattle.

“Devon Horace contacted the Elections Division today to advise them of his intent to withdraw,” Scroggin said in an email. “Given this and the admissions made in his pending criminal case regarding his residency, we will not be placing his name on the ballot and will deny his request.”

Scroggin says the Elections Office decided to reject Horace’s filing today. That means Horace was due to appear on the November ballot by today. The Elections Office will send the final list of candidates to the Multnomah County Elections Division, which compiles the ballot, by the end of the day Thursday.

A Multnomah County grand jury indicted Horace on 16 felony and misdemeanor counts of theft and falsifying business records. Over the course of a year and a half, according to a probable cause affidavit, Horace withdrew more than $100,000 from the nonprofit’s bank account, consisting of donations Horace requested from Nike and the Portland Trail Blazers. The affidavit says Horace then falsified bank records to “conceal his actions.”

Horace, 32, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. A trial date has not yet been set.

The Oregonian The charges against Horace were first reported in April.

According to candidate paperwork, Horace filed his candidacy in August for District 2, which covers North and Northeast Portland. The paperwork lists Horace’s occupation as “investor” and his previous employers as Nike and the Trail Blazers.

Another candidate in District 2 is eye care clinic owner James Armstrong, who records show testified as a witness before the grand jury that indicted Horace. Armstrong confirmed he testified but declined to provide further information about the nature of his testimony, though Armstrong served as Alberta Main Street’s board chair from 2014 to 2019, then returned to help run the organization after Horace stepped down in 2023.

Armstrong is trained as a forensic accountant, according to the probable cause affidavit, and helped uncover Horace’s alleged misconduct.