Op-Ed: From Mutual Aid to the Ballot Box:  How Hillsboro’s Grass Roots Are Taking the Power Back

by Marc Grambo, Washington County Democrats Volunteer Recruitment & Engagement Coordinator

In October 2025, a small group of Hillsboro residents, including myself, started the Hillsboro United Mutual Aid Network (HUMAN). Within weeks, dozens of volunteers had joined. Within months, that network had become a widely recognized force for community support: delivering food, supplies, and emergency assistance to families in need. It also began advocating against ICE abuses, registering voters, and pushing for civic engagement in communities that are often overlooked.

Out of that mutual aid energy, something else emerged. The same residents who had been organizing supply drives and supporting families in crisis started showing up at city council meetings, asking hard questions about why their city was giving away millions in tax breaks to data centers while working families struggled to pay their utility bills.

People like Kiley Delgado, Jacob Roloff, Janna Nelson, Antonia Lopez, and too many others to mention, stepped up to organize, to promote action, and to build the infrastructure that mutual aid and civic engagement require.

Volunteers staff donation drives and deliver meals. Residents have signed petitions and are speaking up at public hearings. Social media influencers amplify the message. Community organizers work behind the scenes.

The truth is, this movement was not built by a handful of people. It was built by a community that refused to stay silent.

The numbers tell part of the story. Hillsboro is home to 21 data centers on 436 acres, with 50 more acres under construction. The city’s Enterprise Zone provided $84 million in tax incentives to data centers this year alone. Meanwhile, data centers consumed 11.4% of Oregon’s electricity in 2023 and can use up to 4.5 million gallons of water per day. Residential electricity rates have risen by nearly 50%, while data centers continue paying less than half the rate per kilowatt-hour that residents do.

Through it all, local resident and publisher of the Hillsboro Herald, a local independent news outlet, Dirk Knudsen has been the only local news source consistently covering these issues, reporting on the data center “gold rush,” the city’s tax giveaways, and the community’s growing resistance. The Herald has documented the nearly 30 data centers in Hillsboro, exposed the millions in tax incentives, and provided a platform for residents and candidates to speak out against unchecked corporate expansion. It has also been a frequent critic of the city’s lack of transparency, including being denied access to executive sessions. In a media landscape where local coverage is shrinking, Dirk has remained a vital, independent voice for the community.

On May 19th, Myrna Muñoz defeated incumbent senator Janeen Sollman, a self-styled moderate who had grown cozy with big corporations. Sollman was backed by nearly a quarter million dollars from the Senate Democratic Leadership Fund, voted against unemployment benefits for striking workers, and tried to bring rural land inside the urban growth boundary for data centers. Myrna, by contrast, ran as a democratic socialist and champion of working families. Her victory was a victory for the coalition that had been building for months. The same people who had been showing up at city council meetings and building mutual aid networks turned their attention to the campaign trail, knocking doors and making calls to turn out voters for Myrna. The energy that started in HUMAN and other mutual aid networks had found its way to the ballot box.

That energy didn’t stop there. The grassroots pressure that helped elect Myrna continued to build, and on July 27, 2026, the Hillsboro City Council unanimously adopted a 120-day moratorium on new data center applications, a clear victory for community organizing.

Now, many of these same people are coalescing around candidates who share their values: Karim Delgado, husband of Kiley and an activist in his own right, and Diana Jackson, an active organizer for HUMAN, for Hillsboro City Council, Kipperlyn Sinclair for County Commissioner, and Nafisa Fai for County Chair. These are candidates who understand that tax breaks for billion-dollar corporations should not come at the expense of our schools, our farmland, or our families.

This is not just about data centers. It is about who holds power in our community, and who we trust to use it wisely. The grassroots movement that started with neighbors helping neighbors has become a force that is reshaping local politics. And it is only growing.

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