On May 19, voters in east Salem will elect the next person to represent them on the Salem City Council.

Councilor Mai Vang, a family law attorney, is seeking her first full term representing Ward 6 after winning the seat in a three-way special election last year. Challenging her is small business owner Betsy Vega.

Ward 6 covers the area inside city limits east of Interstate 5, mostly between Northeast Silverton Road and Northeast Center Street.

Election guide: Read more about the 2026 city election here and find your ward here.

City council elections are nonpartisan, and the office is a four-year, volunteer position.

Candidates are campaigning as two slates that are politically opposed, with more progressive candidates backed by Progressive Salem and conservative candidates backed by Marion + Polk First. Vang is part of the progressive slate and Vega is part of the conservative slate.

Vang’s election came after Mayor Julie Hoy, the ward’s former councilor, stepped into her current role.

Salem Reporter sat down with both candidates to talk about their thoughts on key issues for voters, including homelessness, public safety and the city’s budget. See their perspectives below.

Background

Vang

Vang has lived in Salem since 2018 when she moved to the city to attend law school at Willamette University. She previously lived in south Salem, and moved to Ward 6 after graduating from law school in 2021. 

She currently works as a family law attorney for Johnson and Taylor, a personal injury and family firm. The job allows her to be in court often while advocating for families through what can be the most difficult times in their lives, she said.

Before becoming a lawyer, Vang interned with Oregon policymakers, including former state Rep. Khanh Pham and current Salem City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke, who’s now running for mayor.

“I really liked seeing how policy was created, seeing how my representatives advocated for their constituents and their residents … It kind of goes back to what I’ve always thought about local government. It was really where rubber hit the road, and you can see the most impactful change, and see the results of your advocacy, maybe not the quickest, but the most impactful.”

After moving into Ward 6, she became involved with the Northeast Salem Community Association, largely out of concern for pedestrian safety and traffic infrastructure. As a councilor, she said she pushed for the city to install leading pedestrian intervals along Lancaster Drive, a safety measure which gives pedestrians several extra seconds to cross the street before cars get a green light.

A focus within her campaign is affordability, especially for renters, as Vang is the only renter currently on city council.

To Vang, the other biggest issues for Ward 6 are public safety and traffic safety and infrastructure. She said she’s running for reelection because “the work isn’t done.”

Vega

Vega moved to Salem around 11 years ago. Raised by two immigrant parents, she grew up in California and attended school in Argentina and Venezuela before landing in Arizona for college.

She operates two businesses out of east Salem – Rose City Balloons and Latino Enterprises, which offers business consulting services. 

After initially living in West Salem, Vega moved to Ward 6 in 2019 and has lived there since, she said.

She started considering running for public office after regularly seeing homeless people along Northeast Market Street.

“So I asked, ‘Why is that happening? Where is that coming from? How is it that we got to this place?’” she said. That concern combined with her volunteer and advisory work led her to decide to run for city council.

Homelessness, public safety and affordable housing are the biggest issues facing Ward 6, Vega said.

Homelessness

Vang

After the city launched a more direct approach toward homelessness several years ago, Vang said she thinks city services are heading in the right direction, but that significant progress is still years down the road.

Vang referenced a situation from 2020 when an unhoused woman gave birth on a downtown Salem sidewalk. She said that prompted previous city officials to take stronger action to prevent similar outcomes in the future.

Now, she said, increased city-funded shelter beds, community partnerships and the new fire department mobile crisis team are examples of how the city has become more involved in both immediate and longer-term services. 

Vang wants to see the city continue addressing homelessness and communicate clearly to the public what the city can do compared to county governments. 

Marion and Polk counties have health departments, which operate mental health and addiction treatment programs that address underlying issues homeless people may have. Marion County is a partner in the fire department team by funding the team’s mental health position.

“We’re already starting to see the collaboration between the city and the county, and the county taking on a more proactive role in that aspect, and continuing on that path is, I think, the best step forward,” Vang said.

Vega

In addressing homelessness, Vega supports an approach where city staff can talk directly with homeless people about their housing situations, mental health challenges or addictions to determine the best resources to move them forward.

“If we can get clarity in speaking to that individual with dignity and compassion, that’s compassion, whether they need to get their life back in order, their mental health in order, if they need to have job reassignments or restructuring,” she said. “Maybe like housing, affordable housing … there’s assistance for that, then they can definitely still be working, and we’re taking care of that citizen as well.”

She also would like to see the city add a workforce component to its homeless services, potentially in the form of a new cleaning team staffed by people who are unhoused and wanting employment.

Another way she’d like to see the city address homelessness is by adding more housing and reducing the red tape to get developments started. She previously said at Salem Reporter’s Town Hall that she wants to speed up the permitting process, zone more land for apartment buildings and waive fees for certain housing types.

Public safety

Vang

Salem residents often share they don’t feel police officers respond when they call 911 and the city needs more law enforcement presence, Vang said. The public perception of a lacking police force somewhat matches a 2021 audit that found the Salem Police Department needs dozens more officers.

“I would love to have that additional 60 officers to meet capacity and to be able to service what we are supposed to based off of what the experts have said, what the performance audit had said, what our chief (has) said, I would love to do that, but we just don’t have the money for that,” she said.

Despite facing budget constraints, Vang believes councilors can help with police understaffing by acknowledging the reality the city needs more officers and presenting Salem and its departments as a desirable place to work.

Vang has done a ride-along with the department’s Homeless Services Team, and supports the recent expansion of city police and civilian teams that help clean campsites.

“We haven’t found long-term funding for them, and so that’s the big question for the next councilor, and I am ready to lean into that conversation and get creative and how do we keep these services seven days a week and beyond just a pilot program,” she said.

The city’s new paid downtown parking fund, which is specifically for downtown services, could free up other city money to continue funding for the expansion, Vang said.

Vega

Vega mentioned making public safety something “non-negotiable” if she was elected to city council during Salem Reporter’s election Town Hall.

In an interview, she said she would accomplish that by creating “more programs that would free (law enforcement) up so that they can do their job and keep criminals where they need to be, either in jail, where they need to be, or out of our state, out of Salem.”

She didn’t offer any specific examples of new programs that could accomplish those goals, but mentioned the fire department crisis team which is initially proving successful at freeing up fire engines to respond to 911 calls. She also mentioned Bridgeway Community Health’s new detox center, set to open in June, as something to help the city serve people using substances.

Vega supports continuing the crisis team, along with the expansion of the city’s homeless outreach and cleaning teams that work with people living in camps around Salem.

“Hopefully we can get to the point where we do a lot of cleanup, and we don’t have to have all these programs together, but in the meantime, this is what our city needs,” she said.

As a vocal supporter of law enforcement, Vega agrees with city officials that the Salem Police Department needs more officers. 

“I would definitely have more patrol officers just cruising the city,” Vega said.

Having more patrol officers and increasing the visibility of law enforcement would “bring people more safety” through visibility and not necessarily arrests, she believes.

Meeting with the chief and city councilors would be Vega’s approach to addressing police staffing levels.

City budget

Vang

As a candidate in the 2025 election, Vang supported the five-year property tax levy voters approved last year to fund city services, including the Salem Public Library, Center 50+ and parks. The levy temporarily helped the city out of a budget deficit.

“Really that is a Band Aid to the budget issue,” she said, referring to the levy. “And as council and city staff have been saying for a really long time, is that the budget deficit that we experienced is going to happen again” because city costs like wages and pension benefits rise faster than tax collections.

When it comes time for the levy to be renewed, Vang said she’d support it again but would listen to whether Ward 6 residents agree and ultimately vote based on her constituents.

If the city were to face budget cuts again, public safety and traffic infrastructure are two services she would push to maintain as those are some of the top concerns she hears about from Ward 6 residents.

“Ward 6 is going to tell me what services they would like to see kept in the budget and what services they are willing to let go,” she said. 

Vega

Vega said she was aware of the previous budget deficit and credited Mayor Julie Hoy’s leadership of the city with the change in the city’s financial situation.

Regarding the tax levy passed in 2025, she said she would support its renewal if it went to the ballot again for voters to decide on. County election records show she did not vote in last year’s election, where Salem voters passed the levy, though Vega disputed that.

If the city were to face funding cuts again, Vega said she would want to prioritize mental and behavioral health services, which she acknowledged are largely funded and run by county governments. The city’s most high profile involvement with mental health services is the Salem Fire Department’s pilot program to address behavioral health crisis situations.

If elected, she wouldn’t support any new taxes or fee raises to increase city funding, saying the city can be “creative in other ways” to avoid raising costs for Salem residents. She’s particularly against any new taxes on businesses.

Campaign finance and endorsements

Campaign finance data is from the Oregon Secretary of State as of Monday, April 27.

Vang

Total raised: $13,470

Total spent: $10,782

Cash on hand: $6,521

Top five donors: Progressive Salem, $2,735 in-kind; Salem attorney Spencer Bailly, $2,500; Tsom Teng Vang, $1,500; AFSCME Local 2067 (city of Salem employee union), $1,000; Oregon AFSCME Council 75 (statewide government employee union), $1,000.

Major endorsements: City of Salem AFSCME Local 2067, SEIU Local 503, Oregon League of Conservation Voters, North Coast States Carpenters Union and Oregon state Sen. Khanh Pham, D-east Portland.

Vega

Total raised: $37,836

Total spent: $27,047

Cash on hand: $11,825

Top five donors: Marion Polk First PAC, $29,165, cash and in-kind; Salem Police Employees Union, $1,000; Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee, $1,000; Eileen Altschul, $250; Laura Dorn, $250.

Major endorsements: Salem Police Employees Union, Salem Professional Firefighters Local 314, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, former city councilor Jose Gonzalez, Mid Valley Association of Realtors.

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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