Two years ago, Liv Osthus, better known as Viva Las Vegas, put up a billboard telling Portland to “expose yourself to politics.” She then ran for mayor on the idea that the city’s top job should belong to its head storyteller. She’s a Lutheran preacher’s daughter, a longtime dancer at Mary’s Club, a single mom, and a fixture of Portland’s arts scene. She joins Mike to look back on that campaign and to take stock of where the city stands two years into its new form of government. The reunion starts with a swap. Mike still has the “Viva for Mayor” T-shirt Liv gave him on the campaign trail, and he returns the favor with a rare piece of his own: a shirt a supporter made for his election night that cheekily reads “Say Yes to the Schmidt Show.”
They talk about what her dad’s ministry and her own have in common, the summer fight over no-parking signs outside Mary’s Club, and why she thinks strip clubs, schools, and the arts should be treated as neighborhood anchors. Viva also gives her read on Mayor Keith Wilson and the new City Council, and she and Mike talk about what Portland could learn from Mayor Mamdani’s “just get it done” approach in New York. She shares her endorsements in the 2026 races, including Shannon Singleton for Multnomah County Chair, and says whether she’ll run for mayor again in 2028. (She plans to decide by spring.)
Before that, trash news correspondent Elinor Jones covers Trump’s plan to turn the White House press briefing room back into a swimming pool, the nicotine pouches that got Robert Pattinson into Primetime, and Roseanne and Randy Quaid’s self-funded doomsday-prepper show.
Find Viva: On stage at Mary’s Club and on Instagram Liv Østhus
Find Elinor: The Trash Report in the Portland Mercury, and @elinorjoneser on Instagram
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