New contender opens race for Astoria mayor

Published 6:57 am Friday, February 13, 2026

Three seats will be up for election on the Astoria City Council in November, including the position of mayor.

Filing has yet to open, but one Astoria man has already decided he wants to run for that particular post.

Sean Davis is a combat veteran and the co-founder and host of Rogue Cell, a program that airs on Astoria-based community radio station KMUN. The show is nested under a nonprofit of the same name that Davis co-founded which aims to connect veterans to community and reduce the risk of suicide.

(Davis had also previously reported two features for KMUN as a volunteer. As he runs for mayor, he will no longer be involved in volunteer work with the KMUN News Department.)

Davis wants to be, in his words, “a citizen mayor,” someone who is deeply involved across multiple parts of the community and who spends a lot of time listening.

“Wherever I go, I try to make that community better,” Davis said.

Current Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick has not said if he plans to run for reelection. But in an email to KMUN, he said of Davis, “Sean’s a good guy. If I choose not (to) run in the November election, I think he will make a great Mayor.”

Davis said he is not running because of anything Fitzpatrick “did or didn’t do” as mayor, but that he feels uniquely qualified right now to make a difference in the role.

Among his priorities if elected are to focus on economic development that doesn’t rely solely on tourism, looking to underutilized properties and partnerships; support for public safety; expanding workforce, multi-family and transitional housing options; and developing “real, safe” alternatives to street camping for the area’s unhoused population.

This isn’t the first time Davis has been interested in being mayor of a city. In 2016, he made a bid to become the mayor of Portland. At the time he was post commander for American Legion Post 134 in northeast Portland.

In an incredibly crowded field — there were 15 candidates total on the ballot — and against more well-known and more resourced candidates, Davis finished fifth.

Since moving to Astoria in 2022, Davis has involved himself in the community and gotten to know key players including former longtime city employees.

“I’m not going to be somebody who’s just like, ‘Hey, I’m going to champion this and make it happen,’ because I understand what the mayor’s powers are here,” Davis said. “You’re just part of a team. (The position) really doesn’t have too much more authority than any other city councilman would.”

Raised in rural Oregon, Davis served in the U.S. Army and, after Sept. 11, 2001, in the Oregon National Guard. He was deployed to Iraq where he was injured in an ambush and awarded the Purple Heart. When he returned to Oregon, he went to college, worked as a writing instructor at local community colleges and fought wildland fires across the Pacific Northwest.

Davis eventually moved back to his hometown, McKenzie Bridge, an unincorporated community in Lane County, serving on the school board among other positions. His community was impacted by Oregon’s disastrous Holiday Farm Fire in 2020 and Davis helped with efforts to rebuild.

Communication and a sense of teamwork are key attributes he feels he could contribute if elected as Astoria’s mayor.

“My entire adult life I’ve built teams that help communities, whether that was in war-torn Iraq or down in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina or in McKenzie Bridge, where I lived, after the fire … . I think I have a skill set where I can bring people to the table,” Davis said.

The two other seats up for election on the Astoria City Council in November are Ward 1, which represents the Uniontown neighborhood on the city’s east side as well as waterfront near the Port of Astoria and Ward 3, which covers the core downtown area. The seats are held by Andy Davis and Elisabeth Adams respectively.

Davis, a senior research analyst for the Oregon Health Authority, and Adams, owner of Wild Roots Movement & Massage downtown, have told KMUN they do not plan to run for reelection.

— KMUN is The Astorian’s media partner