Steve Callaway seeks Washington County District 4 seat

Running in a crowded field of six candidates for Washington County Commissioner District 4, Steve Callaway, a former Hillsboro mayor, highlighted his experience as an elected official and familiarity with the district he hopes to represent.

Background

Callaway, a teacher, principal, and vice principal by trade, served two terms as Hillsboro's mayor from 2017 to 2025.

Other elected and community positions he's held include stints as Hillsboro City Council president, League of Oregon Cities president, a member of the Hillsboro Planning Commission and more.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Point Loma College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Lewis & Clark College.

Callaway spent time in the Banks School District, ending his time there after working as the vice principal at the former elementary school in Buxton in the 1990s. He joined the Hillsboro School District as a principal in 1996, working at schools in North Plains and Hillsboro before his retirement in 2015.

Running for office

It's this familiarity and experience with much of District 4 that Callaway says would be an asset if elected.

"I just feel that there's a good awareness of needs and connections there," he said after noting Hillsboro, Forest Grove and Cornelius as communities he also had ties to. "It's an opportunity to give back to these communities at the same time I pay it forward," he said.

If elected, he said he would be available and accessible.

"When I was at the schools, when I was mayor, I was always available and accessible, I was engaged, and that will be no different," he said, citing unfiltered conversations he had in Roy during the recent St. Francis Steak Dinner & Tractor Show.

He said he's knocked on possibly thousands of doors during his campaign. "You get the same sort of honest response, and I love that, and then you can take that to the issues that the county's facing and see how you can help the cities and the rural areas," he said.

He said that the county faces concerns about transparency, and said in the past, elected county leaders had modeled transparency, citing former Washington County Chair Andy Duyck as an example.

"That was my first exposure to the county government, and Andy modeled it so well, and that's part of the example that I've taken forward," he said.

"But then you bring in Clean Water Services where, again, it didn't feel like there was a lot of transparency or accountability with what they were doing," he said.

Clean Water Services was roiled by scandal after investigative reporting by the Oregonian exposed exorbitant spending at dinners and luxury hotels by the agency's administration. Clean Water Services is overseen by the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

He said one of his priorities would be to enact a low-income rate for Clean Water Services customers struggling to pay their bills.

"We need to make sure that we are able to support them in recognizing how they're getting squeezed and begin to take real actions to provide some relief," Callaway said.

Callaway said he has a familiarity with the budgeting process from his time in Hillsboro leadership and how cuts to services impact community members.

He listed keeping core services maintained as a priority.

"Making sure we're focusing on our core responsibilities, because if the core responsibilities aren't met, then those typically become other cities' or other entities' problems," he said.

Callaway added public safety as another priority.

He said the Washington County Jail is not fully staffed, and said he would like the jail to be fully staffed and have other building needs addressed.

He said the Washington County Courthouse needed attention.

"Our courthouse is a hundred years old, one of the oldest in the state, and it does not serve for the current needs of 2026," he said.

Housing is a priority as well.

"I have experienced that for myself with our kids and grandkids, you want to make sure that they're able to get a house in an area that they want," he said.

"We need to work to make sure that across the county, that's being addressed," he said.

A fifth priority was economic development and workforce development.

"A lot of people think that economic development is attracting big companies, or big businesses, but our small businesses are the heart and soul of our communities, and we need to make sure that we are providing economic support, economic development for entrepreneurs who want to start their own business," he said.

He described a local Hillsboro bakery opening a second location as "the coolest thing ever."

"Here's a family, multigenerational, opening their bakery, and now they have two. That is great economic development," he said.

"I love Van Dyke's in Forest Grove," he said. "When Hutchins closed, we started making sure we shop out there, because that money that you spend locally, stays locally," Callaway said.

He said as mayor he helped support workforce programs at Portland Community College. Callaway said he would continue that work at the county level if elected.

Asked how he would balance the needs of the urban and rural portions of District 4, Callaway said despite their differences, all of the cities and unincorporated communities in the district had a similarity.

"They're fiercely proud of their heritage, fiercely proud of their communities, and each community has their own strengths," he said.

"All of the communities have similar needs, but different ways of addressing those needs," he said.

He said the rural areas had transportation needs, as did Hillsboro. "It still falls into the same buckets," he said. "It's just how you meet those needs that's a little different."

He said that larger cities like Hillsboro could handle much of their own needs, but that some things like permitting could be met through county services for smaller cities like Banks or North Plains.

"Part of being available and accessible, you're able to hear what the needs are," Callaway said.

Find more information about Callaway's candidacy online.

The May 19 election closes at 8 p.m. Find a ballot drop site, a voters’ pamphlet, and more information on voting online.