(Photo courtesy of Kaarin Knudson)

Listen to our interview with writer Tarek Anthony about his coverage of the mayoral campaigns:

Before Kaarin Knudson, 47, could ever dream of becoming Eugene’s next mayor, she was already busy in Eugene, racking up awards both on and off the track at the University of Oregon. The UO track star won awards including 1999 Oregon NCAA Woman of the Year, a Two-time Academic All-American and All-American Runner. In the classroom, Knudson graduated at the top of her class with degrees in journalism and design.
After graduating from UO, Knudson worked jobs in San Francisco and Portland. But when the time came for the mother of two to choose a place to earn her master’s degree and begin a family, Knudson decided that she wanted to move back to Eugene, citing her “wonderful experience” during her undergraduate years at UO.
Upon Knudson finishing her master’s degree in architecture from UO in 2007, Knudson returned to the university in spring 2008 to teach design studio classes to architecture students — something Knudson still does nearly 16 years later.
“​​I’m very fortunate to have had wonderful relationships with faculty and students on campus — I love the energy that goes with teaching [and] the type of creative inquiry when thinking about design and city building,” Knudson said. “I love seeing my students go out into the world and succeed in that exploration.”
Simultaneously to her position at UO, Knudson worked as a project designer at local architecture company Rowell Brokaw. In 2017, Knudson left and co-started her own business — sustainable design consulting firm LARCO/KNUDSON — with fellow UO architecture professor Nico Larco. The same year Knudson started what she describes as a “public interest project” called Better Housing Together, an organization within her consulting firm that focuses on “increasing housing affordability, diversity and supply in Lane County.”
Outside of her entrepreneurial pursuits, Knudson has also been deeply involved within the Eugene community for over 10 years.
Knudson serves as a board member of Eugene’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund Committee and served as the president of the City Club of Eugene, a local non-profit organization, from 2022-2023.
Knudson is endorsed by much of Eugene’s political establishment, including incumbent Mayor Lucy Vinis, who announced she would not seek a third term on Sept. 12, 2023. Knudson has also gained endorsements from former Mayor Kitty Piercy and five of eight city council members.
“This is my first campaign for elected office, and so those endorsements come based on the fact that people know me from my work and community over the past couple of decades,” Knudson said. “I am very fortunate and grateful that so many different people [have] asked me to step up for public office after working with me for years.”
With Knudson’s history of work surrounding affordable housing and sustainable design, her main focus if she were to become mayor would be finding solutions to a lack of affordable housing and Eugene’s pervasive homelessness crisis. Knudson wants to use her expertise in sustainable design to form policy reform around housing for Eugene.
“Thinking about the beautiful place that is Eugene and what I love about this community, homelessness and sustainability are all areas that we’re going to need to continue to work on and be effective in — in our policy work,” Knudson said. “I think my background as an architect and in sustainable urban design is helpful to us in that so many of the issues that we need to address relate to sustainability in the built environment.”
Knudson said that with climate change progressing and the recent ice storm in Eugene, the city needs to reexamine its emergency preparedness to prevent future weather events from closing the city down for so long.
“We’re going to continue to be very challenged by the emergency of climate change, and the ways in which … extreme weather events in winter, extreme heat in summer and droughts and flooding are going to continue to be present events on our calendar every year,” Knudson said.
Knudson went on to say that she would take a particular focus toward Eugene’s “built environment” to ensure access to support services such as heating and cooling shelters to the unhoused community and others at greater risk during an extreme weather event.
Knudson is currently facing two opponents, Shanaè Joyce-Stringer and Douglas Barr. Eugene’s primary mayoral election will be held on May 21 to determine the ballot for the general election on Nov. 5.