Wright Public Affairs

03/30/2026

An honor to receive this award alongside the MHCC team!

We’re proud to be nationally recognized for excellence in marketing and public relations, earning three top honors in the highly competitive National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) Paragon Awards—the only awards program dedicated exclusively to professionals at two-year colleges.

This year’s competition included 1,585 entries from 216 colleges nationwide, with just 98 colleges recognized across 48 categories. MHCC stood out on the national stage earning:

🏆 Mark L. Olsen Best in Show – Historic MHCC Bond Passage (the highest honor, awarded to just one college in the nation!)
🥇 Gold Paragon Award – Government or Community Relations Campaign (Historic MHCC Bond Passage)
🥈 Silver Paragon Award – Special Event/Fundraising Campaign (MHCC Champions Gala)

These awards reflect a true community effort made possible by the dedication of our team and the support of our students, staff, faculty, and community members who helped bring these campaigns to life.

Pictured here (left to right): Wright Public Affairs, Jennifer Seeley Boehmer, and Margo Whitmire

Margo Whitmire Jennifer Seeley Boehmer

06/03/2025

Big Wins in May Elections! Big Wins For Public Education in Oregon

We’re thrilled to share that Wright Public Affairs led a clean sweep in the May 20 special election, securing victories on five major education bond measures across Oregon—each one historic in its own right. Some wins were by razor-thin margins that underscore how challenging this landscape has become and how much quality campaigns matter. Wright Public Affairs has now passed over $8 billion dollars in local funding measures since 2015.

Read all about all 5 the 5 historic measures here:

May 2025 Election Celebration! WPA leads clients across Oregon to historic victories for public education - https://mailchi.mp/d6ebbe22c86b/may-2025-election-celebration-big-wins-for-education

1) Portland Public Schools – $1.83 Billion Bond Largest in State History

https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2025/05/voters-appear-to-narrowly-approve-183-billion-portland-public-schools.html

2) Mt. Hood Community College
First Bond Passed in over 50 Years

https://katu.com/news/local/mt-hood-community-college-celebrates-historic-bond-measure-approval-kane-drive-stark-street-mhcc-lisa-skari

3) Tigard-Tualatin School District
$421.3 Million Bond Approved
https://valleytimes.news/2025/05/23/421-3m-tigard-tualatin-school-bond-passes-paving-way-for-new-fowler-middle-school/

4) Lincoln County School District
$73 Million Bond Passes by Wide Margin
https://lincolnchronicle.org/building-bond-for-lincoln-county-school-district-passing-easily-tuesday-levies-for-two-fire-districts-too-close-to-call

5) Morrow County School District
$204.4 Million Bond Narrowly Passing

https://eastoregonian.com/2025/05/21/morrow-county-204-4m-school-bond-passes-by-razor-thin-margin

06/02/2025

May 2025 Election Celebration! WPA leads clients across Oregon to historic victories for public education - https://mailchi.mp/d6ebbe22c86b/may-2025-election-celebration-big-wins-for-education

05/18/2023

Tuesday's election in Oregon was a successful one for Wright Public Affairs and public education across the state. Congratulations to our clients - Sherwood School District, Hood River School District, Lake Oswego School District and St. Helens School District for passing their local option levies and bonds to fund teachers, educational assistants and the buildings they work in. It's always a fun to go undefeated on election night!

https://www.sherwoodgazette.com/news/local/sherwood-local-option-levy-passing-by-comfortable-margin/article_35448ce6-f466-11ed-a6bb-57dae99f6e57.html

https://www.columbiacountyspotlight.com/news/local/st-helens-school-district-bond-measure-in-the-lead/article_53436616-f427-11ed-8ca5-f3982d4c9d66.html

https://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/news/voters-approve-local-option-levy-to-continue-funding-lake-oswego-school-district/article_17efb008-f466-11ed-b842-e782689a96b5.html

https://www.opb.org/article/2023/05/17/oregon-may-2023-election-levies-for-school-operation/

11/10/2022

Wright Public Affairs would like to congratulate client David Douglas School District for their resounding win last night. Measure 34-320 will make $140 million in critical investments in David Douglas schools. Huge shout out to Brandy Coffman Penner for bringing the campaign home in the final weeks as manager and DDSD Board member Stephanie Stephens who tirelessly led the Campaign PAC.

Voters in the David Douglas School District in east Portland approve a $140 million school bond to repair schools and improve security in buildings.

11/09/2022

Wright Public Affairs would like to congratulate Forest Grove School District for their historic bond victory last night. This was a significant tax increase ($1.50 per $1,000) and major investment in the future. The communities of Cornelius and Forest Grove stepped up big to help their schools.

The measure would fund school safety measures, among other improvements.

11/08/2022

Election eve turnout update. As of this evening just 35% of Oregon voters have voted. We are currently trending about 7% behind 2018. We can do MUCH better than this! Take a look at the report I prepared, so much room to grow! Text, call, post and harass all your friends to get their ballot in tomorrow. Too much at stake.

04/09/2022

It’s been 2 years since we did this conference in person! So much fun to connect with folks I’ve only met through zoom screens and see old friends and colleagues.

As always, it’s an honor to be asked to present. Thanks OSBA! Stay out of the muck!

10/30/2020

10.30 Oregon Voter Turnout update.

This time I am including both the State of Oregon and City of Portland. Turnout 61% statewide and 68% in the city. Energized D's continue to dominate the electorate here.

I want to provide some context for how bonkers this early turnout is.

The general rule of thumb in a Presidential election in Oregon is you take the turnout on Friday and double it and that will tell you where we expect to land. So for example, on this Friday in 2016 in Multnomah County we were at 38.61% turnout and final turnout wound up at 80%.

Obviously that rule has gone out the window and we are in uncharted territory with the pandemic and early voting. I am not going to predict where we land turnout-wise other than to say that I think it is going to be VERY high.

02/08/2020

It was an honor and a lot of fun to present the luncheon keynote to the Oregon School Board Association’s bi-annual Bonds and Ballots conference. Topic was: Pivot To Video: How to Make Video a Key Tool of Bond and District Communications”. Thanks for the invitation