Sean Davis for Astoria

In this update, I wanted to talk about the different types of service. I have spent more than 30 years of my adult life serving in one way or another. Some of that service came with a uniform and a paycheck. Some of it happened in classrooms, some in the forests fighting fires, some around boardroom tables, inside veteran halls, and in communities facing their worst days. The settings change, but the purpose never does: show up, listen, and help where you can.

Last Wednesday, I taught an online writing course for veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project and the Writers Guild Initiative, a nonprofit based in New York City that makes storytelling accessible to underserved communities. That work is deeply rewarding.

I try to live by a simple principle: Be the person you needed when you were the one in need.

Wednesday night brought a different kind of service. I joined our campaign team and knocked on doors. We began canvassing last week, and we have already reached nearly 150 homes. We head out for two hours with our clipboards and ask residents one straightforward question: “What is the most important thing the mayor can do for Astoria?”

Then we meet at Peter Pan Market, the Fort, or another local establishment to compare notes and talk about what we were told. We’re not collecting information so it can disappear into a campaign binder. We’re listening because the priorities of this campaign should come from the people who live here.

Between now and Election Day, I will be knocking on doors every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. If you see us in your neighborhood, please stop and talk—or at least wave. I promise we are friendlier than the clipboards make us look.

On Thursday, I sat down with former Mayor Willis Van Dusen. We spoke for nearly an hour and a half. I know Willis has endorsed another candidate, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from someone who served Astoria for so many years. We had a terrific conversation, and I came away with even greater respect for him.

If I am elected mayor, I want to work with Willis. I also want to work with the other candidates running in this election. It takes courage to put your name on a ballot and ask your neighbors to judge your ideas, experience, and character. The stipend is small, the problems are complicated, and public disagreements can weigh on anyone. Every candidate who steps forward deserves respect for being willing to serve.

Then there’re moments that remind me why the work is worth doing. This morning, while delivering lawn signs—as I do most mornings—I met another wonderful Astorian who believes in this campaign. We stood and talked about the city, what is working, and what needs attention. Those conversations keep me going.

On Friday, I flew to Denver for a national Together With Veterans convention. Together With Veterans brings rural veterans and their communities together to prevent veteran suicide. It was inspiring to be surrounded by people from across the country who are confronting an enormous problem with compassion, practical ideas, and steady determination. That gathering got me thinking again about service—and the many forms it can take.

I joined the Army in 1993 and served first as an infantryman and later as a military police desk sergeant. I attended months of leadership training and led soldiers in real-world situations, including Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. The Army taught us seven values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. Like many who served, I used those values to rebuild myself as a person after a hard childhood.

I left the military in January of 1999, but the day after the September 11 attacks, I reenlisted. That decision eventually took me to Iraq. I hate war, but I remain proud that we did our best to protect and help vulnerable people under terrible circumstances. I was critically injured in an ambush and sent home with a Purple Heart, but after I recovered, Hurricane Katrina struck, and I volunteered to go to New Orleans and help.

I left the military for good on September 12, 2007, but my service didn’t end. I became a college instructor and taught writing and critical thinking at colleges and universities in Oregon and in Boston during some summers. Other summers I fought wildland fire. I also volunteered to serve on the board of the Returning Veterans Project, which connected veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with mental-health care. As commander of an American Legion post in Portland, I helped organize food programs, coat drives, employment assistance, and housing support. During one bitterly cold winter, we opened the post as an emergency shelter because people were freezing on the streets.

https://katu.com/features/everyday-heroes/everyday-heroes-veterans-save-lives-during-storms?video=2257f954dc094de8af2224dc45bb8cde

And for years in that time, I worked with lawmakers and organizations to solve social problems. I was lucky enough to be sent to Washington DC multiple times to lobby against the Forever Wars and to pass the Oregon Wildlands Act. I drove to Salem to testify for our veterans, to help start the Veterans’ Lottery Bill that gave a small percentage of Oregon Lottery money to the Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs. I was the project lead to lobby lawmakers to keep our local Leaburg Hatchery funded. I didn’t make any money as a lobbyist, but that wasn’t the point. The point was the service to my community. 

When my family moved back to the small mountain community where I grew up, I served on the school board, budget committee, library board, and track board. I worked with the Chamber of Commerce and the local community development corporation. I helped write grants to repair our clinic roof, maintain our library, improve our sewer system, and take care of the basic infrastructure that holds a town together, but then the Holiday Farm Fire came in 2020.

I put my greens and yellows on and went to work beside my neighbors. Because our community was unincorporated, we did not have local elected officials representing the town itself. I worked with state and federal lawmakers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, relief organizations, and volunteers to help people survive and begin rebuilding. I was only one person among many, but I was there every day working hard for my community. That is what service means to me.

Many of the families who left never returned. Our local K–12 school lost a significant part of its enrollment, and Kelly and I eventually decided that our daughter needed a place with more opportunities. We chose Astoria because our friends Matt and Kristin Zedwick lived here and because we had loved this town for more than 15 years. Living here still feels a little like a dream. That is why I feel such a responsibility to give something back. I am not running for mayor because I need another title. I am running because Astoria deserves active leadership—leadership that listens, brings people together, solves problems, and does the work.

I am ready to keep serving. If the people of Astoria place their trust in me, I will bring that same commitment to City Hall.

Thank you.

Let’s get to work.