HERMISTON — One of the four candidates wishing to become Hermiston’s mayor has attracted attention with her Facebook account.

Hermiston City Councilor Jackie Linton, a Democrat, posts often on her Facebook page, including messages that would seem to push against her political party, which endorsed her, even though Hermiston city councilor positions are nonpartisan.

“We endorsed Jackie Linton’s candidacy for the mayor of Hermiston,” confirmed Patrick Cahill, Umatilla County Democrat’s chair.

“I have come to see her as a nice, moderate person to take on the political landscape of rural Oregon, especially in Hermiston, where you have such a diverse population,” Cahill said. “Jackie can speak towards more of the cultural and fiscal concerns of the more conservative, while being moderate to the people coming into this new generation.”

Linton’s active Facebook page has attracted attention with messages such as, “What is a woman? A human female adult. What is a man? A human male adult. There, problem solved.”

She posted a photo of an overweight man wearing a printed T-shirt displaying, “I’m fat, but identify as skinny. I’m trans-slender.”

She posted a photo of an adult man next to a young woman, perhaps 14 years of age. The caption reads, “A man followed a girl into the bathroom, stating he identified as a woman. The man’s teeth were knocked out by the girl’s father, who identifies as the tooth fairy.”

Then there’s a portrait of tennis star Martina Navratilova with text attributing a quote to her, “Not the place for any failed male athletes,” and at the bottom of the photo the text says, “Seethes with anger as five transwomen gain entry into a soccer team.”

Cahill said he was not familiar with Linton’s Facebook postings, and he took a look.

“I still believe Jackie is a well-educated woman who can have fair and balanced conversations while hearing both sides,” the Umatilla County Democrat chair said after viewing her page.

However, he also said Linton “is misguided and misinformed when it comes to social media, and she needs to be more tempered in her use.”

Umatilla County Democrats have full faith in her ability as an elected official, he said, but she needs to take some time away from social media.

“Her record is something more to uphold rather than her social media tendencies,” Cahill said. “It’s through her ability to work with others on city council, like Nancy Peterson, that has made us so confident in the ability to put aside her personal opinions for the betterment of the people. I’m sorry I’m not necessarily pleased with those social media posts.”

Opponent gives their take

“The audience for those who post things online tend to have the same mindset,” Peterson said. “People like to have conversations with people they believe are going to have the same beliefs as them.”

Peterson also is a Hermiston city councilor and is running for mayor. They said they could be given a label as “anti-Trump because I’m not binary, and I’m also disabled.”

Peterson has done work with Linton on behalf of immigrant rights and the like. They said Hermiston is 52% Hispanic, 45% of which speak a language other than English.

Peterson did a stroll through some of Linton’s Facebook pages and commented on the “woman, man, problem solved,” posting.

“That might be construed as anti-trans in the frame of the bigger dialogue going on, in which people are saying there are only two genders, and no such thing as a gender spectrum,” Peterson said. “It’s like, there are only these two things, but gender is a very complex topic.”

Second thoughts occur

“What we decide to put on our pages, if we are sharing with a friend, then it’s a very private audience,” Peterson said, “but when we are public figures, then our stuff is seen by a broader audience. I’ve posted something and then I’ve gone back 20 minutes later and thought , ‘Gosh, I’ve just realized how that might sound,’ and it’s click, delete, click, delete, click, delete. I might have thought it was funny, but someone else could take a lot of offense to it. When you’re a public figure, you live in a fishbowl.”

Peterson said unless a person has done a deep dive into these issues, or has close family or friends that are part of that community, it’s not an area spoken about very often.

“I see these kinds of memes all the time,” Peterson said. “Are they alarming? Yeah. Do they bother me? Of course. But do I call them out each and every time? No, because chances are that I have a relationship with that person and there are things we are working on together.”

Peterson said they and Linton have a professional relationship.

“We need to get along, and I know we are all on our own personal journey for growth,” Peterson said. “Looking back a few years, boy, I learned a lot, and I’m guessing she has done the same thing. Sometimes what we post on social media gets through our own radar.”

Linton apparently referred to Peterson, but not by name.

“We have a person on the city council that’s nonbinary,” Linton said. “Before she became a city council member I went to her for a private meeting and I asked her about her politics. She told me, so I voted for her. I don’t care about all that other stuff. Do I agree with it? Not really, because that is my religious belief. I have a right to it, and if people don’t want to vote for me for that reason, I have no problem with that. This is a democratic society.”

Linton insisted she is a “real deal” moderate Democrat in spite of what she posts on Facebook.

Election Day was Tuesday, May 21.

Doug Primmer, also a city councilor, and Manuel Salazar, a Hermiston High School senior, also ran for mayor of Hermiston.