Sean Davis for Astoria

Sean Davis for Astoria Citizen Mayor

I am running for mayor because Astoria is home, and I believe home is something you take responsibility for. With the military, firefighting, community organizing, and volunteering, I have over thirty years of serving the communities I’ve lived in. 

A soldier in military gear, holding a weapon, stands in front of a large plume of black smoke rising from a distant fire.

Much of my life has been built around service. I served twelve years in the U.S. Army, including combat in Iraq, and disaster response in Haiti and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I left the military as an infantry platoon sergeant. I spent ten years as a wildland firefighter. I have worked in public safety, security management, college education, nonprofit leadership, and community service. In each of those roles, I learned that leadership is not about having the loudest voice in the room. It is about accepting responsibility, listening to the people who know the work, making decisions when they need to be made, and being accountable for what happens afterward.

Smiling soldier in camouflage uniform standing near floodwaters, with submerged houses and trees in the background.

That is the kind of citizen mayor I want to be.

Since announcing my campaign, I have treated running for mayor as a full time job. I have spent the last eight months meeting with city staff, firefighters, police officers, Public Works employees, business owners, housing advocates, labor representatives, educators, nonprofit leaders, veterans, and residents. I have studied budgets, infrastructure plans, housing reports, economic development strategies, and emergency preparedness. I have gone on ride-alongs with Astoria Police, Port Security, and Clatsop Community Action because I wanted to see our challenges from the perspective of the people dealing with them every day.

I did not do that so I could claim to have all the answers. I did it because good leaders ask better questions when they understand the work.

Astoria faces serious challenges. Our infrastructure is aging. Too many people who work here struggle to find housing they can afford. Small businesses face rising costs. We need more living-wage jobs, stronger emergency preparedness, and a long-term plan that does more than react to one crisis after another, but I do not look at Astoria and see a city in decline. I see a city with enormous strengths.

We have a working waterfront, a strong small-business community, a community college, Job Corps, the Port, talented city employees, artists, tradespeople, veterans, fishermen, educators, healthcare workers, families who have been here for generations, and people who arrived recently and decided this was where they wanted to build a life. We have the Columbia River at our doorstep and a community identity people spend their entire lives trying to find somewhere else. The question is whether we are willing to plan for the future while protecting what makes Astoria worth fighting for.

I believe we can.

I want an Astoria where the people who teach our children, repair our streets, work in our hospitals, serve our food, build our homes, and keep us safe can afford to live here. I want a city government that thinks ahead about infrastructure instead of waiting for systems to fail. I want us competing aggressively for state and federal dollars so local residents are not asked to carry this burden themselves. I want City Hall to be accessible to residents and small businesses. I want our young people to see a future for themselves here instead of assuming they have to leave to build a career. Most of all, I want people to believe that local government can still work.

That requires trust, and trust has to be earned. It comes from showing up, listening, explaining decisions, admitting when something is not working, and being willing to change course. It comes from treating disagreement as part of democracy rather than as an enemy to defeat. My experience has taught me that you lead from the front and set the example. 

I will not agree with every resident, and I do not expect every resident to agree with me, but I will listen. I will do the work. I will tell people what I believe and why, and when a decision is made, I will take responsibility for my part in it.

I have been fortunate in my life to serve alongside people in some very difficult circumstances. Those experiences taught me something I have never forgotten: communities become stronger when people believe they are responsible for one another. 

We inherited an extraordinary city from the people who came before us. Our responsibility is to take care of it, improve it where we can, and leave it stronger for the people who come after us.

That is why I am running for mayor.

A worker in a yellow shirt and helmet stands next to a yellow vehicle, covered in dirt and grime, indicating his recent labor. He has a serious expression and appears to be taking a break.
A speaker presenting at a podium with a computer next to him, discussing various works of fiction and nonfiction.
A firefighter with a yellow helmet and headlamp, wearing a black vest and a patterned scarf, stands in a forest with smoke in the background.
A man in a blazer and red shirt gestures while standing at a podium with the United States Senate emblem in a formal setting.
A man with a beard speaking into a microphone at a committee meeting in the Oregon State Legislature, with another man seated next to him.
Three individuals posing for a photo in front of a blue wall decorated with framed posters of Oregon landscapes.
A large group of students posing on stairs in a school, with a teacher animatedly standing in front. The students are smiling and waving, dressed in casual clothing.
A man in a pink shirt stands at a wooden podium made of stacked books, reading from an open book. Behind him is a large bookshelf filled with various books, and framed artworks are displayed on the wall.

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