Melanie Kebler

Homes for all wages, stages and ages. Mayor Kebler has been leading on housing since first being elected to city council six years ago, and we are proud to support her reelection as Mayor of Bend.

One achievement stands out: rents have flattened thanks to the new homes being built. In inflation-adjusted terms, rents have fallen in Bend. This is what happens when supply catches up to housing demand. Some people didn’t think that was possible, that new apartments would just attract people from elsewhere and rents would keep climbing. But it worked, and that’s a big win for the many people who no longer see their rents climb rapidly every year. The same approach has worked in places as different as Austin, Denver and Asheville.

It’s good to have elected officials you can convince to vote the right way; it is even better to have someone like Mayor Kebler, who leads the charge on new policies and supports the kinds of home building Bend needs.

Melanie Kebler is the Mayor of Bend, Oregon, a nonpartisan office she has held since January 2023, and is running for re-election in the November 3, 2026 general election. She was elected to the Bend City Council in November 2020 and served on the council for two years before becoming mayor. Kebler grew up in Bend and graduated from Bend Senior High; she earned a BA in English and Classic Civilizations from the University of Michigan and a JD from Lewis and Clark Law School. An attorney, she worked as a deputy district attorney in the Yamhill County and Lincoln County district attorney's offices and as a victims' rights attorney at the Oregon Crime Victims Law Center, and has practiced estate and probate law. She lives in southeast Bend with her daughter.