The joke quickly escalated into a reality as Ditson launched an effort to garner signatures for a petition to place his name on the mayoral ballot in mid-November.
The event was a success, collecting 104 signatures and permitting Ditson to officially run for office.
"You might think the campaign is a joke," Tony Prato, the man who created the Facebook page, told Noisey. "But guess what? People like jokes, and they'll engage with jokes. Now let's get serious."
Ditson, who moved to Portland when he was 18, stated that he was encouraged to make his campaign a reality after being discouraged by a lack of government effort to protect Portland's cultural identity.
"Every one of my friends is having trouble paying rent. The city has been too easy to work with development companies that then sit on the land and crush neighborhoods until they can put up the condos they want," he said.
He adopted the campaign slogan "It's your Portland." relying on his networking skills and outsider mentality to protect what he believes makes Portland appealing.
"I don't have to answer to anybody except my community, and I don't have any ties to development companies, or any ambition to be a career politician," he told Noisey. " So I don't have a reason to sell our city out."
We welcome Jules Bailey and any other new candidates into the race, but the announcements in The Oregonian, Willamette...
Posted by Bim Ditson For Mayor of Portland on Wednesday, November 25, 2015
