Oregon APIC Member Moses Ross passed away in April of 2025. He was a passionate collector who worked in politics and ran for office several times. He was a good friend to all he encountered in Oregon and the greater APIC community. He attended the Reno APIC National in the summer of 2022.
In the photos above feature Moses with various APIC members and friends from events over the years. Oregon Chapter members Carl Fisher, Jim Heir, Carl Wolfson, Grant Schott, Dave Shaw, Doug Pahl, Matt Koehler, and APIC National Convention Keynote Speaker Jack Ohman, and then some national friends, John "Dr. Vote" Olsen, and former President Bill Clinton.
While Moses enjoyed collecting Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and other items from his time as an activist in politics, he was also responsible for a fair number of political items from his various campaigns for office and in the Democratic Party.
This button was from his 2nd attempt at a legislative appointment in HD 38
His first campaign for office, where he had to file for the county elections, was for Portland Community College Board Director 5 in 2017. This was a big step up from applying to run for a legislative appointment, which he had done twice for House District 38 (once in 2013 and then again in 2017). He came in third, earning 3,038 votes. He produced several campaign handouts, a very small run of buttons, and a lawn sign for this campaign.
This button is 3 inches and fewer than 50 were made for the campaign. This was the same logo used for 12'x28' lawn signs used in 2017.
His second run for public office was running for Portland City Council District 4 in Portland, Oregon's first-ever ranked-choice multi-member district elections. Nearly one hundred candidates filed and ran for the 12 city council seats (3 seats per each of the 4 council districts). Moses was running in District 4, and of the 30 or so candidates, he made it to the 16th round before he was eliminated in the rank choice voting.
He was one of the few candidates for Portland City Council to link himself directly to the Harris-Walz ticket, and his 2.25" buttons reflected that connection. He had a standard logo button and then three buttons with Harris-Walz on them. One featured photos of Harris, Walz, and Moses, and the other two buttons were simple Blue with White or White with Black wording of the ticket HARRIS-WALZ-ROSS.
While Moses was never elected to a public office, he did get elected as President of the Multnomah Neighborhood Association several times over the last decade. No known buttons were ever produced for these efforts.
Moses Ross was elected to serve as a Delegate or Alternate to four Democratic National Conventions. He produced several items over the years to promote these efforts. In 2008, he was elected a Delegate for Hillary Clinton at the 1st Congressional District Nominating Convention. I am unaware if he made any items aside from a website to promote this campaign. He was an early supporter of Clinton in Oregon and was a member of the Hillary Super Volunteers national organization. He beat out statewide and local elected officials in his quest to be a Hillary delegate.
Captured above is a photo of Moses wearing his Oregon Hillary Delegate button in Denver at the DNC, taken by fellow Obama Delegate Mac Prichard. Also above is Moses meeting Hillary at the PDX Airport before a visit through Oregon, where he served as a staff driver during the primary.
In 2012, Moses attempted to run for Obama Delegate but fell short of the votes for a ticket to the DNC that year. Between 2012 and 2016, there was a redistricting in Oregon and by the time the 2016 DNC elections came around, Moses would be in Oregon's 3rd Congressional District. Due to his previous relationships built during Hillary's first presidential campaign and the Super Volunteers group, he was one of the early organizers for Hillary's 2016 campaign in Oregon. He helped organize the very first events in Oregon for Hillary in 2014 and 2015. A large initial gathering was held in downtown Portland at Kell's Irish Pub. Ready for Hillary PAC sent buttons, stickers, and lanyards to distribute, and Moses made sure every co-host had their own custom buttons.
Competition in the 3rd Congressional District was tough, as more delegates were awarded to Bernie Sanders than any other district in Oregon. There were only a few coveted Hillary delegate slots, and Moses teamed up with his friend Mary Shutten in the hopes of securing. While Mary was able to secure a delegate position at the district convention, Moses came up short and was forced to continue his campaign on to the June state convention. Below are the 3" inch pins Moses issued for both of these events.
The state convention was just as competitive, but Moses was able to secure the only male Alternate slot for the Clinton delegation and get his ticket to Philadelphia. Below is a photo of Moses with his daughter on the floor of the convention with the Oregon sign behind them.
One button that was made after the convention to celebrate Oregon's Clinton delegates was a 'Political Nerds for Her' button that featured a photo of the entire Oregon Clinton delegation. Moses, along with myself and many other prominent Oregon Clinton delegates, were featured on the button, including then-Governor Kate Brown, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, future House Speaker Julie Fahey, future State Rep. Travis Nelson, and even future state party chair Nathan Soltz. Here is a photo of the 3-inch button.
It was during the campaign cycles of 2014-2020 that we collaborated to produce buttons for several local events in his home of Multnomah Village, a neighborhood of SW Portland. Several buttons centered around the Multnomah Days Parade which featured entries from both major political parties. Sometimes he also held organizing events at his home in Multnomah Village or at the Multnomah Arts Center. His favorite place to meet someone for coffee or lunch was Fat City Cafe. He loved to sit in the infamous 'Bud Clark' Booth (a booth made famous for when Bud Clark fired the Portland Chief of Police during his time as Mayor of Portland. Here are some examples of the buttons issued for the Democrats attending events in Multnomah Village when it was part of House District 35. Multnomah Village was removed from HD 35 after the most recent redistricting.
As the 2020 campaign cycle got underway, Moses was excited about the prospect of another campaign and a chance to be a delegate. We organized in 2019 to help start promoting the Democratic candidates by becoming Debate Party hosts for the DNC.
Moses was an early supporter of former Vice President Joe Biden and ran as a Biden Delegate. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, state political parties transitioned from in-person District and State conventions to holding Vote By Mail and online elections. Moses issued a button for his campaign, and we designed and sold lawn signs in anticipation of possibly being able to attend the 2020 DNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There was about a month period where they were trying to figure out if any part of the convention would be in person, and then they ultimately decided they would ask delegates to stay at home, and the 'Stay At Home Convention' was born.
This large 6" button was made to support his campaign, and we joked because of the virtual nature of everything, a button needed to be big to be seen on a Zoom call. Of the 8 delegate slots allocated to Biden from CD 3, Moses was elected one of the 4 male delegates. The 3rd CD gave Bernie Sanders his strongest showing in the state, and so Biden won 8 delegates and Bernie 4 from the district. Moses was very proud to be a Biden delegate.
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Here is an example of the lawn signs sold as a fundraiser to help cover convention expenses. Sadly, while we were fundraising, word came down that the convention had turned to a virtual-only event for delegates.
2024 was one of the most exciting elections for politicos in a long time. Moses was running for Portland City Council and had also decided he wanted to run to be a Biden delegate again. There was some strong opposition to Biden, but no single challenger was able to articulate a message to persuade rank-and-file Democrats to drop his candidacy throughout the primary. The closest any candidate got was Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, who attempted to make Biden's age an issue, but it fell flat in New Hampshire. Phillips lost to a Write-In campaign for Joe Biden.
By now, Moses had been redistricted back into Oregon's 1st Congressional District. He faced some tough competition from his fellow Multnomah County CD 1 peers and also his neighboring Washington County Dems. He came up just a little short at the CD Convention and had to go on to the state convention in Madras. It was frustrating that, as he was running his city council campaign, an important labor interview occurred at the same time and forced him to miss the state convention, but Biden Delegate Carl Fisher (me) gave him a nominating speech that secured him a delegate position. I passed out a few Moses and Joe buttons while I was there that weekend. Here is the button from his state convention campaign.
The photo of Joe and Moses was taken in 2019 during Biden's only visit to Oregon before the pandemic hit and Election Day. I was with Moses at this event and Joe was very pleased to hear we had gone to Iowa and volunteered for him just two months before this. As we were walking back to our car, his big SUV slowed down and the window rolled down and we said 'Thank you Joe!' and he yelled out a ' Thank you and god bless ya!'
Well, most know the story of what happened next. Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced on in a very early presidential debate and the backlash to it, got Biden to reconsider his priorities and he dropped out of the race, turning over his delegates to decide who to nominate. With only weeks to go before the DNC in Chicago, a quick nominating process was called forward and if a candidate could get a petition signed by enough delegates they could put their hat in the ring and seek the nomination. The only candidate to submit a successful petition was Vice President Kamala Harris. Many state delegations moved quickly to endorse her.
Moses wanted to do something special for the convention so he commissioned a button to be made that promoted his campaign and Kamala Harris. It is a 2.25" button and left for Chicago with a hundred and came back back with only three or four buttons. These were made just days before Moses left for Chicago.
Moses loved politics, he loved people, and he loved collecting political items from the campaigns he worked for over the years. He was a genuine activist collector who would slowly branch out from his favorite candidates into things like Space Race and NASA related items. One of the items Moses always wanted to get was something from his dad Galen Ross' 1968 congressional campaign from Utah. His parents were big influences on his political journey, especially his father who showed up and put his values on the ballot by being a candidate for Congress and later running for Attorney General in 1976. Moses was only two years old when Galen ran for Congress so he didn't have any real memories of the campaign. He was older when his dad entered the primary for Attorney General and recalls many long car rides across Utah with his uncle and dad stopping and talking with all kinds of community groups.
There are other Moses-related items that I didn't have time to dig through my collection and find at the moment, but as I discover images, I will be sure to add them beyond this final thought. Moses was a great activist and collector of political items, even if it took him a little while to realize he was a collector. He leaves behind a legacy that his friends and family will always appreciate, and items out there for future collectors to look for in quests to build their collections.
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