Three Hillsboro City Council candidates are accusing the city's political establishment of ignoring systemic harm to marginalized communities while rushing to condemn the Aug. 8 confrontation with state Sen. Janeen Sollman.

Dorian Russell, Karim Delgado and Diana Jackson published a joint op-ed Wednesday, Aug. 19, in the Hillsboro News Times, arguing that the bipartisan outcry over the Sollman incident "centered whiteness" at the expense of residents facing economic hardship, ICE detention and youth homelessness.

"Who benefits when political violence is only acknowledged as acts against politicians and not as policy and spending decisions?" the candidates wrote.

The op-ed lands in the middle of an already fractured council debate. On Aug. 10, Mayor Beach Pace, Council President Rob Harris and Councilors Elizabeth Case, Saba Anvery and Cristian Salgado issued a joint social media statement condemning "political violence" after Pedro Garcia-Balderrama, 28, of Cornelius was arrested on suspicion of harassing Sollman at a community forum at Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove. Garcia-Balderrama pleaded not guilty Aug. 13 to harassment and second-degree disorderly conduct charges and is scheduled to return to Washington County Circuit Court on Sept. 29.

Councilors Olivia Alcaire and Kipperlyn Sinclair declined to sign the statement. In a letter to the mayor on Aug. 10, Sinclair called the condemnation "highly premature" and said it "appears politically charged rather than rooted in a pursuit of safety," according to the Hillsboro Herald.

The three candidates go further. Their op-ed describes Garcia-Balderrama as "a multiracial Indigenous activist" and reframes political violence to include choosing between feeding children and paying a water bill, having loved ones held in ICE custody, and supporting "record numbers of homeless youth" in what they call "the economic engine of the state."

Each candidate says they have personally received death threats or targeted harassment. One describes discovering QR code stickers at a mutual aid block party at a city facility this month that linked to a hate website calling for violence against his family.

Who are the candidates?

Jackson works at a nonprofit public defense law firm in downtown Hillsboro, serves on the Hillsboro Planning Commission, sits on the executive board of Oregon AFSCME Local 3668 and volunteers with the Hillsboro United Mutual Aid Network, according to the Hillsboro Herald. Delgado has been described in prior coverage as someone who recognizes the need to "be inside the machine" to effect change. Russell's professional background could not be independently confirmed.

The op-ed calls on "moderate and conservative colleagues to slow down and deescalate alongside us through real kitchen-table dialogue, not glossy public statements."

Mayor Pace and the council majority could not be reached for comment as of Thursday, Aug. 20. The Hillsboro City Council meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month; residents can submit public comment through the city's website or attend meetings at the Civic Center.