Councilor will run for re-election instead.

TIGARD — The race for mayor has dropped down to two.

On Monday, mayoral hopeful and current city councilor Marland Henderson announced that he would not run for Tigard mayor, and would instead run for re-election for the city council seat he has held for four years.

Henderson was one of three people who had announced that they would run to fill the rest of Mayor Craig Dirksen’s term after Dirksen was elected to the Metro Council in May.

Dirksen will leave the city in January, two years into his second four-year term.

The announcement comes one week before the city’s deadline to file to run for mayor. Henderson had not filed, but had spoken openly about running for the seat.

Current City Councilor Nick Wilson has filed for the mayor’s race, as has John L. Cook, the son of John Cook, who served as mayor from 1984 to 1986.

Henderson wrote in a letter to The Times on Monday that he had decided to seek re-election and would not face Cook and Wilson in the November election.

Henderson said that he could better serve the city on the council, rather than in the mayor’s chair.

“I would like to serve my community at the highest level that I can and if re-election is what that is, then I want to do that,” he said in the letter.

Henderson had been an advocate for the council to appoint a replacement to serve out the rest of Dirksen’s term, rather than hold a special election in November, saying that the city’s recently hired city manager, along with a new mayor and two new council members to fill Henderson and Wilson’s seats, would be too much turnover for the city.

“With Tigard in transition with its economic and community development obligations, Marland views that retention of Tigard’s resources is the highest of priorities for now and feels that returning to council for him at this time is the best for Tigard and our community,” the letter read.

With the announcement, Henderson becomes the second person to run for Tigard City Council.

Jason Snider became the first to file for the city council race two weeks ago.

In Tigard, the two candidates with the most votes will fill the two open council seats.

Interested in running for public office?

Candidates for mayor or city council must be a registered voter, have lived in the city for at least 12 months prior to the election, must submit a petition signed by at least 20 Tigard registered voters and pay a $50 filing fee.

Filing and petition forms are available in the City Recorder’s Office at Tigard City Hall, 13125 S.W. Hall Blvd.

The filing deadline for the mayoral candidacy is 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 6.

The filing deadline for a City Council position is 4 p.m. on Aug. 27.

For more election information, call 503-718-2410 or visit the city's website.