Portland locals recently took to social media to laud praise on councilman Rene Gonzalez for his recent contributions to the city. In fact, as part of a rare show of appreciation for a politician, some even called for him to be the next Portland mayor which would make for an interesting conversation.

Compliments included, “Rene is great and all, but the real appreciation is to y’all that voted for him. It represents a long overdue change in Portlanders’ attitude.”, “The BEST thing to happen to Portland in years. I’m not a particularly religious man but TG for Rene Gonzalez. Let’s keep the momentum going here, guys, and REALLY start making progress on restoring our wonderful and beautiful city!”

Further still, some even described him as a breath of fresh air amongst other compliments. So, why are Portland locals so in awe of Rene Gonzalez?

In short, you could argue that unlike most politicians, he has genuinely stuck to his words on issues and hasn’t folded under pressure. Interestingly, this also shows a clear shift within the Portland zeitgeist. Gone are the days of extreme identity politics and arguably, Gonzalez offers a bright, common-sense future.

However, not everyone was happy with him. One person chimed in saying, “What exactly did he do? There is still a lack of shelter beds, lack of drug treatments, psych beds, cops are slow to respond. Oh yea, he told PSR not to give tents! Right, what an accomplishment, Kudos!”

With this said, clearly Rene Gonzalez has some critics and isn’t completely adored. Nonetheless, you can’t deny his popularity at the moment is sky high. It will be interesting to see if he continues this wave or whether the cynics amongst us will be proven right in the end.