Thursday Bram

Where Does Your Vote Matter? May 2026

Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Electoral politics can often feel repetitive: the same candidates receive money and endorsements from the same supporters year after year. Most voters rarely get a chance to support real change.

But in every election cycle, there are at least a few races where the outcome is not a given and a few where one outcome is substantially worse than the other. This analysis is an attempt to identify where those races overlap in Portland's 2026 primary. Consider focusing your efforts on these races, even if you don't vote in any others.

Oregon State House District 38 — John Wasielewski
Multnomah County Circuit Court Position 2 — Diana Sykes
Multnomah County Circuit Court Position 12 — Peter Klym
Multnomah County Circuit Court Position 15 — Joe Hagedorn

Below you'll find analyses of individual races with two or more candidates.

Oregon

US Senate

Two candidates are on the Democratic ballot. Jeff Merkley is the incumbent and has been the junior US Senator for Oregon since 2008. (Yes, that means that his incumbency is officially old enough to vote in this election, if it was, y'know, a person!) Paul Damian Wells is running against Merkley, on a platform focused on Palestine and voting reform. Wells has run three times unsuccessfully for state office and does not appear to have raised money for this latest election. Merkley looks likely to coast through the primary and into the general election in November.

In comparison, seven candidates are on the Republican ballot. Of the seven, Jo Rae Perkins likely has the most name recognition, based on winning the 2022 and 2020 Republican nominations for those year's US Senate races and for her presence at the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021. While the Republican primary may prove tight, Perkins has an edge. It's unlikely, however, that any of the seven candidates running will be able to gather enough votes to beat Merkley in November.

US House

Congressional District 1

Suzanne Bonamici has represented Oregon's first congressional district since 2012. She won the 2024 Democratic primary with more than 90% of votes, and the 2024 general election with more than 68% of votes. Little has happened in the last two years to endanger that strong support and it's likely Bonamici will retain her position in the November general election. The only challenger Bonamici faces in this year's Democratic primary is Jamil Ahmad. Ahmad also ran in the 2024 primary, pulling in 6% of the votes. He may do better this year — perhaps as high as 9% if he can pull all support that went to other challengers in 2024.

Two candidates are running in the Republican primary: John Verbeek and Barbara Kahl. Of the two, Verbeek has more name recognition as a perennial candidate for both the state legislature and for Congress. While he tends to perform well in Republican primaries, Verbeek has failed to earn more than 34% of votes in any general election. In his 2018 match up with Bonamici, she won roughly double the number of votes Verbeek received. Kahl is running for the first time and has yet to establish herself as a more effective primary candidate than Verbeek.

Congressional District 3

The 2024 Democratic primary for Oregon's third district was contentious. Maxine Dexter, the incumbent, won a tight race with the help of out-of-state PACs spending millions in support of her campaign. Since her win, Dexter has gone head to head with ICE multiple times, which has won her some significant support on the left. However, there are still plenty of voters who are open to an alternative. Jessica Salas, a Democratic Socialist, is running in the Democratic primary. While she can't outspend Dexter, Salas may be able to tap into enough voters dissatisfied with Dexter and the Democratic Party to draw some serious attention. Unseating Dexter seems unlikely, but Salas is a candidate to watch. There's also a third candidate in the Democratic primary, Andrew Castilleja, but his campaigning seems minimal.

Only one candidate, Loran Ayles, is running in the Republican primary. Little information is available about Ayles, beyond a failed run for the Hood River County School District.

Congressional District 5

Incumbent Janelle Bynum may be the most vulnerable of Oregon's current congressional representatives. District 5 has more nonaffiliated voters than any other party, although more voters are registered as Democrats than as Republicans. Bynum beat Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the former incumbent, in 2024 (Chavez-DeRemer has since been appointed and resigned from the office of US Secretary of Labor). Bynum faces one challenger in the Democratic primary: Zeva Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum is running a grassroots campaign and refusing money from corporate donors and lobbyists; so far her fundraising has not hit the $5,000 necessary to trigger federal reporting requirements. She has lined up some noteworthy endorsements (including ACLU Oregon). But Bynum's place on lists of vulnerable Democrats nationally has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars — more than enough to drown out Rosenbaum's critiques of Bynum's congressional record.

Two candidates are campaigning in the Republican primary: Patti Adair and Jonathan Lockwood. Adair's fundraising is significant: she has raised over $270,000 as of the beginning of May, with many of her largest donations coming from individuals outside of Oregon. Lockwood has not raised enough to require reporting. Between her funding and her position as a Deschutes County commissioner, Adair seems poised to win the primary. It's worth noting that despite claims by Lockwood that Adair has a liberal record as county commissioner, she's been a loyal Trump supporter for over a decade and toed party lines in her time as a county commissioner.

Governor

Democratic Primary

As an incumbent governor, the odds of any primary challenger unseating Tina Kotek are low. While growing dissatisfaction with Kotek's recent focus on improving business prosperity and other centrist policies might suggest that the right challenger has a chance in this primary, none of the nine other candidates in the race seem to be making a dent in her position. A write-in candidate is getting more attention and funding than all nine challengers put together.

The current federal situation means that Kotek can easily position her re-election as a way to ensure stability in Oregon, both in the primary and in the general election. Any chance of seeing anyone else in Mahonia Hall next year requires a seismic shift in the political landscape. That stability does mean that Kotek isn't getting the full-throated support she might otherwise expect, however. The Oregon Education Association, the union that represents more than 40,000 Oregon teachers, has declined to endorse Kotek in this election, for instance. Such signals of reduced support may not elevate other candidates, but may translate to less power for Kotek during a second term.

Republican Primary

Fourteen candidates are running in the Republican primary for governor. Christine Drazan, the 2022 Republican nominee for governor and current state senator for the 26th district, has been polling well ahead of the rest of the field. However, Chris Dudley, the former Trail Blazer player, has double the funds to spend on the race as Drazan, thanks to $1 million from Nike co-founder Phil Knight. Dudley was the 2010 Republican nominee for governor and lost by only 22,000 votes to John Kitzhaber. (Dudley has no other political experience beyond that race.) The real question in the Republican primary is if Dudley can generate enough name recognition by Election Day. In 2010, he was able to leverage recognition from his NBA career, but Dudley hasn't been on a professional court since 2003 — he's going to struggle to pick up youth voters who weren't even born yet when Dudley last played. If Dudley manages to win the nomination, however, he may have an easier time lining up money and other support than Drazan.

There is little to differentiate any of the fourteen candidates in terms of their actual policies and legislative priorities: they're all campaigning on making Oregon friendlier to business interests, cutting taxes, and reducing regulations. Ed Diehl (current state representative for the 17th district) is the closest to a stand-out in terms of policy, based on his efforts to oppose the 2025 transportation funding bill in the state legislature, which is one of the causes of the Oregon Department of Transportation's current funding gap. While that effort may win Diehl points in the Republican primary, it would be a major obstacle in the unlikely event Diehl moves on to the November general election.

Write-In

An anthropomorphized pencil is running a write-in campaign for governor. The campaign is surprisingly substantive in comparison to several more human-shaped candidates running in both primaries. The pencil is the idea of J. Schuberth (one of the founders of Oregon Kids Read), who has personally funded the Pencil Political Action Committee with $29,000 as of the end of April. That's substantially more funding than write-in candidates usually have, and is actually more than any other candidate in the Democratic primary aside from Kotek. The campaign is intended to build awareness of on-going issues around reading proficiency in Oregon. The write-in campaign is targeting both the Democratic and Republican primaries. The pencil is more likely to pull votes away from Kotek than any other candidate, but so far does not seem likely to affect the outcome of either primary.

Labor Commissioner

While incumbent Christina Stephenson is facing a challenger during this election, that challenger, Chris Lynch, is poorly positioned to oppose her. Several of Stephenson's backers have individually donated more to her campaign than the total Lynch has raised. The core of Lynch's campaign is that Stephenson has been an ineffective leader and failed to prioritize workers over management. While Lynch may have some insight into BOLI's operations based on his work there, his claims don't match reporting or audits of the department. In fact, Stephenson may be one of the more effective labor commissioners in recent history, given her effective use of recent audits as well as a work stoppage to get BOLI more funding. She even structured the work stoppage to limit harms to lower-income workers.

Oregon State Senate

District 17

Incumbent Lisa Reynolds is facing a challenger, Autumn Sharp, in her first Democratic primary since being appointed to the seat in late 2024. While Reynolds doesn't have the entrenched power of a typical incumbent, she has garnered most of the endorsements and money in this race.

John Chee is running unopposed in the Republican primary. However, as Republicans in the 17th senate district haven't managed to get more than 34% of the district's votes in over twenty years, Chee doesn't have good odds of winning the general election in November.

Oregon State House

District 38

Perhaps one of the most interesting races in Portland this year is in District 38. Daniel Nguyen has held the seat since 2022. He's been challenged by John "Waz" Wasielewski with the backing of the Oregon Working Families Party, as part of a larger effort to replace centrist Democrats with more active supporters of leftist policies. Wasielewski is running a strong campaign with enough funding and other support that he may be able to overcome Nguyen's advantage as incumbent — to the point that power brokers with organizations like the Portland Chamber of Commerce have been running surveys with loaded questions describing Wasielewski as 'too extreme' to test ad language. The joke's on the Portland Chamber of Commerce, though: between voters who didn't even know the primary was happening and media attention on their surveys, they may have given Wasielewski's campaign a useful boost.

District 42

Sanchez first won the 42nd house district in 2016 after a narrow primary win. Sterling is the first primary challenger she's faced since then — and he's not running a particularly serious campaign. Sterling's policies are fairly standard for a Democratic Socialist, but don't feel like enough to match Sanchez's legislative work on issues like mental health. Frankly, given Sanchez's position as the only Indigenous legislator in the Oregon legislature* and her work with NAYA, Sterling's attempts to position himself as further left verge on laughable.

*Evaluating Indigenous identity is complicated. There may be up to three additional legislators in office at time of writing who could be described as Indigenous in specific or limited contexts, but who do not consistently identify themselves as such in the context of their legislative work.

Ballot Measure 120

Under this ballot measure, voters are being asked to increase the state's gas tax, payroll tax for transportation, and vehicle registration and title fees. It's the result of Republican opposition to the 2025 funding bill for the Oregon Department of Transportation, which is currently dealing with a major funding gap. The ballot measure is likely to be defeated as there's no one campaigning for its passage.

There's a whole lot of inside baseball behind Measure 120: Diehl and other Republican legislators cherry-picked only certain parts of the funding bill to force to a referendum, Kotek and other Democrats don't want to run a campaign increasing fuel costs, and there was even a special legislative session in January 2026 to shore up ODOT's funding that led to a lawsuit about this ballot measure. But despite all the political maneuvering, this measure doesn't matter.

Multnomah County

Note: Multnomah county commissioner elections will be on the November ballot.

Multnomah Circuit Court

Position 2

Of the five candidates vying for the second judicial seat on the Multnomah Circuit Court, the candidate with the strongest establishment endorsements (including Multnomah County District Attorney) is Laura Rowan. However, Rowan's prosecutorial record and cozy relationship with the Portland Police Bureau suggest that, on the bench, she would be the candidate most likely to compound the harms of the judicial system. While Chris Behre's work in public defense and in building diversion programs suggest that he might be one of the most effective choices for this position, Diane Syke's endorsement by the Portland Mercury and the Oregonian suggests that she has a better chance at beating Rowan. Sykes' work in creating the Oregon Department of Justice's Civil Rights Unit makes her a workable choice in this race.

Position 5

Neither of the two candidates for position 5, John Casalino and Joanna T. Perini-Abbott, are known for reformist tendencies. Perini-Abbott is enough of a better candidate, given her support of drug treatment diversion courts and lack of direct support from prosecutors. While this race may be close, the potential outcomes are not different enough to make this race a priority.

Position 12

Peter Klym is challenging incumbent Adrian Brown in an unusually complicated judicial election. Vasquez, Multnomah County's aggressively oppositional district attorney, has been targeting Brown in the media, demanding she be prevented from presiding over major cases. While Vasquez's attacks were mostly baseless, however, they led to stories about some troubling behavior. And since this election has kicked off, Brown has attempted to reschedule or pass cases to colleagues to ensure she has time to campaign after missing key campaign deadlines.

In contract, Klym is an experienced public defender who has advocated for restorative justice and other approaches. He's active in his union, understands appellate law, and even got teargassed in the streets in 2020. As much as voting for Brown to stick it to Vasquez appeals, Klym is the better candidate — and running a more effective campaign.

Position 14

An impressive six candidates are running for position 14, five of whom have serious community support. Joe Hagedorn is arguably leading the pack with endorsements from the Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, and the Oregonian. Given his familiarity with family law (the focus of position 14's docket), interest in restorative justice, and experience with public and juvenile defense, Hagedorn is a better choice than at least three of the other challengers.

Measure 26-261 — Renewing OHS Levy

Multnomah County homeowners have paid a levy to support the Oregon Historical Society (as well as the East County Historical Organization, Gresham Historical Society, Troutdale Historical Society and Crown Point Country Historical Society) since 2010. This ballot measure will renew the levy at $0.05 per $1,000 of assessed property value through 2031. The owner of a home valued at $250,000 will continue to pay $12.50 per year towards this levy if it is renewed, while the owner of a home valued at $500,000 will pay $25 per year. The levy renewal is expected to pass; the last two renewals passed with more than 70% support and public perception of OHS has not changed dramatically in that time. The main opponent to this ballot measure is the Taxpayers Association of Oregon, which opposes any ballot measure around taxation as a matter of course.

In 2025, OHS received $3.5 million from the levy, around a quarter of its yearly operating costs. The other organizations received around $30,000. OHS reports more than 20% of its in-person visitors came from Multnomah County. The levy is generally in line with the local usage costs of OHS' resources, especially given that OHS offers free admission to Multnomah County residents with proof of residency. Other sources of funding include the State of Oregon and private donors. While OHS has committed similar institutional harms as other museums and schools in the Pacific Northwest, the organization has been proactive for the last decade or so in returning human remains and cultural artifacts to the communities they belong to.

Measure 26-263 — Riverdale School District Local Option Tax

Property owners in Riverdale School District have used a local option levy to fund the district's operations since 2000. This year's ballot measure proposes increasing the tax from $1.37 per $1,000 of assessed value each year to $1.67 per $1,000 of assessed value each year. The owner of a home valued at $250,000 would pay $417.50 every year after this increase (up from $342.50 annually under the existing rate), while the owner of a home valued at $500,000 would pay $835 annually (up from $685). According to the Riverdale School District, failing to pass this increase will result in either firing seven teachers or cutting 21 school days from the calendar.

Historically, school levies and bond measures have passed easily in Oregon and nearby states. But in the past two years, school districts have faced more difficulty in passing such ballot measures — at a time when funding from other sources is also dropping. As a result, this measure may be harder to pass than it would have been in years past.

Measure 26-264 — Burlington Water District Local Option Tax for Fire & Ambulance

The Burlington Water District is asking voters to approve a new levy of $1.70 per $1,000 of assessed value on the roughly 400 property owners living in the district. The funds will cover expenses the Burlington Water District pays to the City of Portland Fire and Rescue Bureau and to build a contingency fund for the district. This ballot measure will not district water rates. The average assessed value for a property in the Burlington Water District is $166,000. The owner of a property valued at $166,000 will pay an estimated $288 more per year in taxes. There's very little information to be had on this measure — even the Taxpayer Association of Oregon can't be bothered to oppose it, even though they always oppose taxes because that's their whole thing. It's one of the hardest outcomes to predict as a result.

Portland

Note: Portland's city council elections will be on the November ballot.

Metro

Metro Council President

The race for Metro council president is getting more attention than usual in this election cycle, at least partially due to the expiration of the Metro Supportive Housing Tax in 2030 and uncertainty around its renewal. The impact of money raised through the tax has been debated, although a close reading of Metro's annual reports on that subject suggest that the tax has funded significant improvements in local housing supports. The real issue is that the number of households needing this help has increased by more than 20 percent since 2020 at the same time that federal aid has dropped. Metro's next council president is practically guaranteed to get tagged with claims that Metro has failed to do anything about homelessness in Portland, despite the underlying reality.

Of the five candidates volunteering for the job, Juan Carlos Gonzaléz has the most support from elected leaders, labor, and community activists — and the only active fundraising committee. Bruce Broussard and Chris Christensen run in just about every election cycle. Philip Fensterer and Ken Ross both work for Metro and could bring important perspectives to the council, but don't have the necessary backing to get elected in this race.

One note on Christensen and Broussard: the Oregonian and other media refer to Broussard as a perennial candidate and Christensen as a retired real estate professional. Given that Christensen has also run for multiple offices (his only win was the 2020 Republican primary to challenge Suzanne Bonamici for the congressional seat she still holds), journalists may want to interrogate their own choices in describing these two candidates.

Metro Councilor, District 1

Ashton Simpson is running for re-election against Noah Ernst. Ernst may be familiar from his run for Portland City Council in 2024, when he was eliminated second. Simpson has focused on transportation during his time on the Metro Council — no surprise given his history as the executive director of Oregon Walks. Ernst also considers transportation a priority, specifically around protecting car usage against 'special interest advocacy groups,' along with advocating for increased policing and streamlining the permitting process for real estate developers. Unfortunately for Ernst, many of the solutions he's advocating for are not under Metro's purview and have also been demonstrated to be ineffective. While comparing Simpson's 2022 win to this year's race is difficult (he won with 98% of votes as there was no other candidate), his community ties and name recognition seem likely to put him well ahead of Ernst. Just comparing Simpson's long list of endorsements (including from other Metro councilors) to the four Ernst has listed (including the company Ernst works for and an organization active in the 2024 election but that appears to be defunct now) makes clear that Simpson has a better sense of electoral politics.

Metro Councilor, District 4

Two candidates are running for the District 4 seat, Alex Phan and Miles Palacios. Palacios' work experience in both non-profit and political settings makes him a stronger candidate for the position, as he's likely to be able to get to work faster than his opposition. His community ties also suggest Palacios has more capacity for bringing stakeholders into conversations. The two have both made housing a central plank of their platforms. While both candidates have a slew of endorsements from various officials, unions, and other standard sources, Phan's endorsements from business interests, especially real estate organizations, creates questions about his approach to housing policy, along with his ability to separate his own interests as a real estate agent from the work necessary to reduce homelessness in and around Portland. However, given Phan's backing from organizations with financial power, he may have the edge in this race.

Phreeli: an early analysis

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Available to download as a PDF

Phreeli¹ launched as a new wireless service in December 2025, promising significant privacy and security improvements on other providers. The goal of this analysis is to evaluate whether activists, organizers, and other people facing government repression should use Phreeli in the immediate future.

The information available

Evaluating brand new tools can be difficult: we can't look to past behavior, we can't compare past audits to current performance, and we can't even look at customer service complaints to spot trends. The information available about Phreeli at time of writing is limited to: - Phreeli's website and marketing materials - Phreeli's sub-reddit (currently containing 11 posts, although there appear to have been additional posts requesting support that have been since deleted) - A handful of articles from tech news sites (the most in-depth of which is behind Wired's paywall²) - A few posts on community and personal sites that amount to speculation

An in-depth analysis of Phreeli just isn't possible yet. Most potential users concerned about privacy and security likely should wait to use any new wireless provider until external audits and other data are available. However, an initial analysis of these materials and of materials relating to people involved in the company does have value, both for identifying possible concerns Phreeli may face moving forward and to consider the trustworthiness of Phreeli as an organization.

The network

Phreeli offers fairly standard wireless plans, including unlimited calls and texting, along with data. But the company doesn't have its own cellular network or towers: it's reselling T-Mobile's wireless services (as well as services from other providers such as NetworkIP / Elite Telecom). T-Mobile works with a variety of resellers known as mobile virtual network operators (or MVNOs), as do the other large wireless providers³. Other MVNOs include providers like Cricket Wireless, Google Fi, and Mint Mobile⁴. As an MVNO, Phreeli's startup costs are likely in the seven figures. If the company had instead attempted to build out its own network from scratch, the costs would be at least a hundred times higher, so acting as an MVNO is a logical business decision. As a result, though, Phreeli's users are subject to T-Mobile's terms of service, as well as those of other third-party providers Phreeli works with.

While practical from a cost perspective, Phreeli's status as an MVNO means that T-Mobile will always have access to certain kinds of information about Phreeli's users, as may the other service providers Phreeli works with. In order to connect a call or a text from or to a mobile phone, the network has to have certain information, such as the phone's number and location⁵, which are logged as Phreeli's privacy policy notes⁶. That information, combined with users' phone numbers, is generally enough to track users⁷.

And that's not the only information a mobile phone provides⁸. Using mobile apps leaks data in a number of ways and a variety of companies capitalize on connecting information from apps with information from wireless providers, for purposes ranging from advertising to political repression⁹. All this information is accessible to data brokers and law enforcement offers without needing even a user's name and payment details.

There's a good chance that Phreeli's promised privacy will face regulatory threats in the near future. Industry experts have suggested that MVNOs should expect increased enforcement for Know Your Customer regulations for eSIMs, requiring companies to be able to provide more user information to law enforcement¹⁰. Some industry analysts even suggest that the launch of Phreeli and other similar services could spur new regulations requiring wireless providers implement identity verification¹¹. However, predicting future regulatory changes in the MVNO space is complicated by the existence of Trump Mobile, an MVNO likely operating on T-Mobile's network launched in mid-2025¹², as well as other factors which have increasingly politicized the FCC (which is responsible for regulating MVNOs) since the beginning of 2025¹³. It's especially difficult to predict if Phreeli's founder will be an asset in regulatory wrangling, given that Nicholas Merrill is perhaps best known for his multi-year lawsuit against the FBI and US Department of Justice related to the USA PATRIOT Act in the early 2000s.¹⁴

The data

So how does Phreeli plan to counteract this data collection? The company's marketing materials focus on plans to collect as little information about users as they possibly can, as well as separating account details (like names and payment details) from the information necessary to actually place calls (like phone numbers and locations).

The company's core claim is that users need only a zip code to sign up, with no need for an address, although this claim is misleading. Phreeli only clarifies that all users must provide not a zip code but a ZIP+4 code in its terms of service¹⁵ and during the actual sign-up process. The US Post Office uses ZIP+4 codes to identify specific addresses within the larger zip code; it's functionally equivalent to providing a full address in most cases¹⁶. In practice, users can sign up without providing a name or information beyond beyond their ZIP+4 code, as long as they use cryptocurrency to pay for their service.

Phreeli also requires an address for users requesting hardware SIM cards. Users will be able get eSIMs via Tor in the future. That option may be a useful innovation for some users. However, Tor¹⁷ isn't perfectly secure any more than cryptocurrency¹⁸ is. Both can be deanonymized and Phreeli has not indicated any steps the company may take to reduce such risks.

Phreeli also points to a cryptographic protocol they've named 'Double-Blind Armadillo' to prevent account information from being associated with a specific phone number¹⁹. According to a white paper written on Phreeli's behalf by Last Authority, the protocol will eliminate the need to connect a user's account details and the information necessary to connect calls. When a user pays their monthly bill through a system running this protocol, for instance, the payment system will generate a cryptographic token marking the account current without saving any information about the user. That token is then mixed in with other tokens and batch-processed to limit de-anonymization opportunities (like checking what tokens were issued at the same time given users made payments) before the entire batch of tokens is transmitted to T-Mobile or another wireless provider.

However, the white paper does not demonstrate a working version of this protocol, discuss what technologies are used to build it, or even say that the protocol has been implemented at all. Instead, the white paper states that, at time of launch, Double-Blind Armadillo is not in use. Initially, Phreeli is using a less secure system that the white paper describes as "an acceptable level of security and privacy" despite marketing materials suggesting otherwise²⁰.

Assuming Double-Blind Armadillo is ever fully implemented, this approach will only protect a limited amount of user data. That's true even for users who pay with cryptocurrency and use eSIM cards obtained via Tor in brand new phones that are purchased anonymously and only used to call other users taking the same precautions²¹. Protection will be more limited for a user who uses a phone they transferred from another wireless provider, ports over their existing phone number, logs into accounts associated with their name on their phone, or plays mobile games with ads. Users without the technical skills to use Tor and cryptocurrency may also struggle with setting up a Phreeli account without leaking data somewhere along the way.

Of course, as there are so far no audits of Phreeli's implementation of any protocols or infrastructure, there's no way to know that Phreeli's systems actually provide even limited protection. Such audits can take significant time to prepare and may not be available for months.

The key players

Without access to more details about Phreeli's operations, potential users have to decide whether they trust the people behind the wireless startup.

Nicholas Merrill: The founder of Phreeli is the only individual named on the company's website. His resume includes founding Calyx Internet Access (an ISP) in 1995 and cofounding the Calyx Institute (a non-profit focused on digital privacy)²² in 2010, as well as filing the first constitutional challenge against gag orders under the USA PATRIOT Act in 2004. Merrill left the Calyx Institute in August 2025, as part of a series of changes that led the organization to cease offering CalyxOS²³.

Louis Rossmann: While not listed on Phreeli's website, Rossmann posted a video announcing the launch of Phreeli and mentioning that he is a board member²⁴. He is also listed on a 2024 SEC form detailing transfer of shares in Phreeli²⁵ Rossmann is an advocate for consumer rights, especially the right to repair, as well as the owner of an independent computer repair business founded in 2007. He operates a popular YouTube channel on related topics and is involved with multiple non-profits²⁶.

Steve Gelmis: Gelmis is also listed on Phreeli's 2024 SEC paperwork as a director, though has not publicly announced ties to Phreeli. Gelmis is founded Public Interest Network Services / Public Interest Telecom in 1984²⁷.

Least Authority: The consultancy that developed Double Blind Armadillo is named in Phreeli's white paper describing the protocol. Least Authority has worked on projects around decentralized systems and security since 2011²⁸. In 2015, the company spun off the Electric Coin Company to operate Zcash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency²⁹.

Zooko Wilcox: The founder of Least Authority³⁰, Wilcox has spoken to multiple publications about Phreeli and can be assumed to have worked on Double Blind Armadillo. Wilcox also worked on Zcash, including a stint as the CEO of the Electric Coin Company, and remains active in the community³¹.

Additional staff: Phreeli likely has around 10 staff members, although information is extremely limited. Two additional staff members are listed on the company's LinkedIn profile: Phil Weiss and David Moo³². Weiss lists a position as Phreeli's general counsel, along with operating his own law firm and teaching part-time. Moo lists a position as Phreeli's director of operations and appears to have worked at Calyx Internet Access with Merrill.

Funders: A single angel investor seems to have provided most of Phreeli's $5 million in funding. When asked about the investor's identity by Wired reporter Andy Greenberg, Merrill declined to provide their name³³.

The lack of details about most of the people involved in Phreeli's operations is concerning. It's not surprising that people who care about privacy decline to be identified publicly — but doing so limits an organization's ability to build trust. Without information on who is funding Phreeli, outside evaluators can't even guess if those funders might make demands of the company that endanger its ability to function, let alone to keep users data private³⁴. It's a known issue in the space — even Tor routinely has to address funding the project received from the US government in order to maintain users' trust³⁵ — which makes Phreeli's lack of transparency all the more noteworthy.

Addressing concerns around Phreeli from other security-focused projects is virtually impossible without the organization increasing its transparency. Since Phreeli's launch, makers of secure phone operating systems other than the Calyx Institute have leveled accusations at Merrill, as well as unnamed Phreeli co-founders³⁶ and discussed warning their own users against the company. Many of these concerns are tied to Merrill's exit from the Calyx Institute, which was part of a larger chain of events that dramatically reduced users' trust in CalyxOS and other offerings from the non-profit³⁷. Most of the details around his departure are not publicly available. When one departure can start such a damaging chain reaction, though, it's reasonable to assume that the people involved need to consider how to better work within organizational structures in the future.

Worse, what information Phreeli offers can be seen as misleading. For instance, Phreeli recommends using privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Zcash or Monero, going so far as to mention them in the company's privacy policy, adding that "Zcash and Monero are in no way affiliated with Phreeli--please take the time to learn about these services before using them."³⁸. While technically a correct statement, Least Authority's work with Phreeli makes complicates that claim, as Least Authority created and then spun off Zcash and Wilcox remains a Zcash advocate.

Trustability

If you take Phreeli's claims of privacy at face value, the company's offerings seem impressive. If you dig deeper, however, you will find that Phreeli seems to be promising more than they can actually offer (at least at the time of offering). It's unclear how many of the privacy measures the company promises have actually been implemented. Worse, the company's marketing materials frame details in ways that are at best overly-generous and at worst are misleading.

Phreeli seems to be quickly building an organizational culture that limits information, as well as downplays users' concerns, perhaps best evidenced in the company's sub-reddit. At time of writing, the sub-reddit contains 11 posts. However, multiple posts have been deleted from the sub-reddit, though comments associated with those posts are still discoverable via the accounts that posted them. The company's moderator appears to follow a policy of deleting posts requesting support from the company's sub-reddit after users have connected with support through Phreeli's website. Reviewing four such posts since Phreeli's launch suggests that multiple users have struggled with accessing eSIMs while signing up for the service³⁹, information that may be useful for potential users considering signing up. This approach is not necessarily unusual for many startups as it can be seen as eliminating negative comments, as well as reducing users' ability to search for common issues and solutions. Overall, the strategy reduces both transparency and trust, which is worrying to see in an organization already lacking in both.

More concerning is the response one poster received when asking about Phreeli's terms of service around forced arbitration and class action waiver clauses — clauses Rossmann is known for advocating against. When asked about these clauses in Phreeli's sub-reddit, Merrill replied personally, essentially saying that the company would never take advantage of these clauses: "We're a small business, just getting started - and our advisors explained to us the many ways our existence is threatened if we don't have this, so we put it in... we - just like our customers - are little guys. We don't want to void warranties, post-hoc change terms of sale on people in disadvantageous ways, or hold people in abusive contracts. We just don't want to get destroyed in the early stages of launching a new company by bad faith opportunists using lawfare to wipe us out."⁴⁰ Merrill's philosophy seems to be that users should trust him and his company to do the right thing in any given situation. But as Rossmann says in his video about Phreeli, "I don't believe in 'Trust me, bro.'"⁴¹ Customers can't trust a company's leaders claiming they would never use a given clause, because those leaders may change their minds or be replaced. Merrill suggesting otherwise demonstrates either willful ignorance about the realities of running a business or a concerning lack of care about users' security in the long run.

Ultimately, Phreeli is asking users to take a lot on faith — and users should refuse. In the absence of any audit or other evidence that Phreeli has implemented any of its promised security measures, users have to assume that Phreeli is just another MVNO passing data along to its wireless provider with no protection. And when you consider the little information that is available about the organization, its technology, and its staff, there's reasons to worry that Phreeli may even be worse than the average MVNO:

a significant mismatch between marketing materials and terms of service demonstrates a willingness to deceive users
an organizational culture of avoiding transparency endangers users' ability to access the services they pay for
promising protection via technology that currently doesn't exist creates a false sense of security for users
a founder whose departure impacted one organization's ability to continue operations could do the same again and leave users stuck

At this time, potential users should pass on Phreeli, especially if privacy and security are key concerns.

tl;dr

Activists, organizers, and individuals facing government repression should not use Phreeli. Even if Phreeli fully implements their proposed Double Blind Armadillo protocol, the company would need to address significant concerns around transparency and trustability to be considered a useful option for individuals looking to protect their privacy.

https://www.phreeli.com/ ↩
https://www.wired.com/story/new-anonymous-phone-carrier-sign-up-with-nothing-but-a-zip-code/ ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_virtual_network_operators_in_the_United_States ↩
https://kiledjian.com/2025/12/17/in-the-final-weeks-of.html ↩
https://www.phreeli.com/privacy/policy ↩
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/t-mobile-claimed-selling-location-data-without-consent-is-legal-judges-disagree/ ↩
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/how-federal-government-buys-our-cell-phone-location-data ↩
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/ice-going-surveillance-shopping-spree ↩
https://hwglaw.com/2025/02/07/client-advisory-on-the-fccs-enforcement-of-the-know-your-customer-rule-against-telnyx/ ↩
https://www.wirelessdealergroup.com/post/phreeli-mvno-launches-with-zip-code-only-sign-up-privacy-focused-wireless-service-and-what-it-means ↩
https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/trump-mobiles-made-america-phone-still-mia ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission#Attempted_abandonment_of_independence_by_FCC_chairman_Brendan_Carr ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union_v._Ashcroft ↩
https://www.phreeli.com/terms-of-service ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_Code#ZIP+4 ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(network)#Attacks_and_limitations ↩
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/are-cryptocurrency-transactions-actually-anonymous/ ↩
https://www.phreeli.com/files/PhreeliDoubleBlindArmadilloWhitePaper.pdf ↩
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLOXsFmLayw ↩
https://www.phreeli.com/privacy/policy ↩
https://calyxinstitute.org/ ↩
https://www.reddit.com/r/CalyxOS/comments/1mf74e3/a_letter_to_the_calyxos_community/ ↩
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8SnNNq6MaI ↩
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2009536/000200953624000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rossmann ↩
https://pinsarchive.ejcg.net/about/management.html ↩
https://leastauthority.com/about-us/ ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zcash ↩
https://leastauthority.com/about-team/ ↩
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooko_Wilcox-O'Hearn ↩
https://www.linkedin.com/company/phreeli/people/ ↩
https://www.wired.com/story/new-anonymous-phone-carrier-sign-up-with-nothing-but-a-zip-code/ ↩
https://startupwired.com/2025/08/04/why-most-series-a-rounds-are-financial-traps-for-founders/ ↩
https://blog.torproject.org/category/financials/ ↩
https://piunikaweb.com/2025/12/29/grapheneos-warns-users-against-privacy-first-carrier-phreeli-recommends-silent-link-esim-instead/ ↩
https://www.reddit.com/r/CalyxOS/comments/1qe2410/what_are_your_plans_for_regaining_trust/ ↩
https://www.phreeli.com/privacy/policy ↩
https://www.reddit.com/user/Team_Phreeli/ ↩
https://www.reddit.com/r/Phreeli/comments/1pr4hnb/forced_arbitration_and_class_action_waiver/ ↩
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8SnNNq6MaI ↩

The Once and Future Latke

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We all think we know what a latke is: a traditional potato pancake fried up for Hanukkah. But where did that tradition come from? And what is the future of the latke?

This zine looks at the history of the latke and its ingredients, showing that this simple treat is a lot more complicated than you might expect.

Content notes: Discussions of nationalism and militarism.

The Once and Future Latke by Thursday Bram

Ditch work for a Yom Kippur ball

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This zine discusses how not working on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur can be a tool for solidarity with both your coworkers and coreligionists.

Ditch Work for a Yom Kippur Ball by Thursday Bram

Now Showing: Your WiFi router name

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Ever seen a WiFi router name that made you laugh? What about one that made you angry?

Since WiFi router names are public, they are a form of media. This zine explores common router names, goes through the laws and standards dictating those names, and uses media analysis to consider the options we have in choosing our own router names and responding to the names others have selected.

Now Showing: Your WiFi Router Name by Thursday Bram

Desire built this place: Why Archive of Our Own works

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This zine explores human-computer interaction through the lens of Archive of Our Own. It covers how accessing fan-fiction differs from other forms of media, how platform ownership impacts design choices, and how feminist HCI impacts security.

Desire Built This Place: Why Archive of Our Own Works by Thursday Bram

Protest arrest / jail support form

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Headed to a protest? Make sure you’re prepared!

Download, print, and fill out this form, then give it to a trusted friend or family member who won’t be at the event. In the event of arrests or other problems, they’ll be better equipped to support you — whether that means contacting a local bail fund, posting bail themselves, or supporting you until your release.

The questions in this form can feel scary, but having this information available will help you and your community keep each other safe. Having this information on hand can even be useful for other situations where you need support — like travel delays or personal emergencies.

One way to make filling out this form less stressful is to do it as a group activity: get together with friends and talk through what support you each may need and how to make sure you get it. You can also talk about who will hold your forms and handle contacting the necessary people in the event of an arrest.

Please copy and share this form with anyone who needs it.

Click here to download the form!

Updated versions of zines for 2025

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I've updated both my mini-zine about Oregon voter registration and my mini-zine about the Oregon political contribution tax credit for 2025.

a brief guide to Oregon voter registration

This mini zine covers how to register to vote in Oregon, including if you don't have state-issued ID or a permanent address. It also describes how to remove your address from the public record (Oregon voters' addresses are otherwise publicly available).

a brief guide to Oregon voter registration by Thursday Bram

Want $50 off your taxes?

This mini-zine walks you through claiming the Oregon political contribution tax credit, which will get you $50 off your Oregon taxes.

Want $50 Off Your Taxes? by Thursday Bram

tənəs buk kʰapa tsiltsil pulakʰli-tsəqw luʔluʔ-iliʔi

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

nayka munk tənəs buk kʰapa tsiltsil pulakʰli-tsəqw luʔluʔ-iliʔi. nayka tiki ukuk hihi-ikta. nayka tiki munk-t̓səm kʰapa ukuk qʰiwa concernedape yaka miɬayt kʰapa bəqəlšuɬ-iliʔi pi dxʷdəwʔabš-iliʔi. yaka munk-miɬayt tipsu pi x̣ələl-ikta kʰapa nsayka iliʔi kʰapa hihi qʰex̣chi wik yaka munk-miɬayt yaʔim yakwa.

nayka munk-t̓səm ukuk pus leyn tayi-skul buk 4. hayu masi kʰapa munk-kəmtəks-tilixam yakwa! wik mayka makuk uk tənəs buk yakwa. ɬush mayka palach kʰapa leyn tayi-skul pus mayka tiki nayka tənəs buk.

tənəs buk kʰapa tsiltsil pulakʰli-tsəqw luʔluʔ-iliʔi by Thursday Bram

This zine about Stardew Valley is in Chinuk Wawa. I like the game and wanted to write about it because the creator, concernedape, used plants and animals from the Pacific Northwest in the game, though it isn't set here.

I wrote the text initially for my final project in the Chinuk Wawa program at Lane Community College. Thank you to the instructors there for their help! I'm not asking for payment for this zine, but if you like it, you can donate to support the program at Lane.

an introduction to posting bail in Multnomah County

Wed, 01 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I've become very familiar with the local bail system here in Multnomah County as a part of providing support to protestors. I produced this zine to document parts of the process not covered by the instructions offered by the Multnomah County sheriff's office.

Please know that the process is subject to change, often with no warning. If you post a bail and notice that something has changed, let me know and I'll update the zine as soon as possible. You can email me at thursday at thursdaybram dot com.

The zine is available to download as a PDF below, which you can then print and fold. There's also a transcript of the zine at the bottom of this page.

<iframe width="552" height="167" frameborder="0" src="https://itch.io/embed/3575744"><a href="https://thursdayb.itch.io/bail-in-multnomah-county">Posting Bail in Multnomah County by Thursday Bram</a></iframe>

zine transcript

This guide only applies to local arrests in Multnomah County, Oregon.

Booking and bail processes differ by county, although most Oregon counties will have similar steps. Federal processes are completely different, however.

This guide covers providing funds to arrestees so that they can 'self-bail' rather than posting bail directly. It's the main option available — private bail bond agencies don't operate in Oregon because the state only requires arrestees to post 10% of the full bond amount for release.

The booking process

When someone is arrested, they're taken to one of the Multnomah County jails for processing, usually the Multnomah County Detention Center downtown, but Inverness Jail near the airport is also an option.

Predicting how long booking will take is hard. If someone is arrested at a protest, booking often takes around 8 hours, though 12+ hours is not uncommon.

Start at MCSO.us/paid

The Multnomah County Sheriff's website has information about arrestees' statuses. Start by selecting 'Booked Today' (or the correct day) under 'Search Type,' then look through the full list of names for your person. Remember, they'll be under their legal name. You're looking for your person's status. If any of their charges have a status of 'Hold', 'Released', or 'Sentenced', you won't be able to bail them.

'Released' can either mean they were released to another agency or on their own recognizance.

Call the MCSO bail desk

503-988-3689 (ask for the bail desk)

Ask the bail desk staff to - confirm your person is eligible for bail - confirm the amount you need to post for bail - check if an arraignment hearing is scheduled

During arraignment hearings, arrestees see the judge for a first time. Sometimes judges will decide to release arrestees without bail, so you may want to wait until after the hearing to post bail.

Post bail through Touchpay

Send money for 'self-release' to arrestees through Touchpay online, by telephone, or in person at their kiosks, using either a credit or debit card. You can also use cash in person. You'll need MCSO's facility code (#297204) for the process.

Phone: 866-232-1899 Website: https://www.gtlfsonlinepay.com/portal/

Warning: Touchpay is awful. The website looks sketchy, but is correct. Sending more than $2,000 at a time will cause your account to lock up, though you can send up to $10,000 in batches.

Call the MCSO bail desk (again)

Once you've confirmed Touchpay has processed your payment, call the bail desk again. Touchpay doesn't send them notifications, so you need to let them know the money is available so they can inform your person.

From there, the arrestee should be asked if they want to use that money towards bail. Assuming they say yes, they should be released from the jail within a few hours.

Potential problems

Bails over $10,000 can't be paid through Touchpay. You'll need to deliver a cashier's check in person to post larger bails.
Arrestees under the age of 18 go through a different process (usually involving being released to their guardian) and won't appear on the MCSO website.
Arrestees can refuse bail if they so choose.
Touchpay will take your money even if your person isn't eligible for bail.
Funds are held for the duration of any related legal proceedings (which can take years), then returned to the arrestee less fees.