A new candidate in the race for a seat on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners says she is running because she doesn’t believe her opponent is qualified for the job.
Mitra Vazeen, a retired educator and former Job Corps center director, told KMUN she wants to continue giving back to Clatsop County. She was motivated to run for the District 3 seat in large part because of the other candidate who filed, retired Costco executive Mike Brosius. The District 3 seat represents the Astoria area.
“My opponent is not qualified for the job,” Vazeen said, adding, “Yes, if they were a qualified person, I would give it to them … The reason I’m running is because I’m experienced and I’m qualified to be a county commissioner.”
Vazeen, who was born in Iran and moved to Clatsop County in the 1990s, was appointed to the Clatsop Community College Board of Education in 2023 and then successfully ran for election to the same seat in 2025, beating her challenger, a student at the college, by over 600 votes. Her term expires in 2029. In January, she was appointed to serve on the Sunset Empire Transportation District’s transportation advisory committee.
Vazeen said Brosius does not have any experience in government as an elected official. She argued that her background in education and with the federal workforce gives her a strong advantage. The federal Job Corps centers, which provide residential career training for low-income young adults, were like a county government in miniature, Vazeen said.
In her various roles at the centers, including at Tongue Point Job Corps center in Astoria, Vazeen said she interacted with a variety of city, state and federal officials, agencies and departments and has experience lobbying at the federal level.
“That’s the experience I bring, that I have, that my opponent does not have,” she said.
The race for a seat on the five-member county board of commissioners marks the second time Vazeen has run for elected office in Clatsop County. It is Brosius’ first time running for elected office, but in recent years he has applied to temporarily fill vacant seats on other boards.
Last year, he was among the top two picks for an empty seat on the Astoria City Council. Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick gave top marks to Brosius and another candidate during that process, but the City Council ultimately selected Joshua Conklin.
In 2024, Brosius was one of six people who applied for a vacant seat on the Clatsop Community College Board. Vazeen had been appointed to the board the year before to temporarily fill another seat but had not yet been elected. This time, the board chose Sheila Roley, a longtime educator and the former superintendent of the Seaside School District. Roley later ran unopposed for the seat in 2025.
Brosius told KMUN Roley was a great choice to temporarily fill the vacant seat, but Vazeen feels it is further evidence of Brosius’ lack of qualifications.
Brosius has pushed back, arguing that he has involved himself in the Astoria community and communities across the county, knows their leaders and has been a part of a variety of economic and social projects. He is also involved with several nonprofit boards in Astoria including the Columbia Memorial Hospital Foundation.
“So I would say I’m very qualified and I already have the relationships with those people and my business background, to me, I consider that a badge of honor,” he said, adding, “That’s something I’m proud of and I think that brings a different perspective, and a needed perspective, to government.”
Both Brosius and Vazeen have made economic development a key talking point in their campaigns. Brosius has emphasized opportunities he sees in further developing and supporting the area’s maritime industry and the potential of manufacturing.
Both say economic growth shouldn’t come at the cost of losing the area’s character and natural resources. But Vazeen thinks Clatsop County is currently missing out on an opportunity: AI data centers.
“We have too many years depended on timber and tourism — the two Ts — it’s beautiful, we have to keep it going,” she said, but added, “We need to be more involved right now with artificial intelligence…some counties in Oregon are incentivizing — like tax reliefs and what not. We should be trendsetters instead of following what somebody does.”
She sees potential for this kind of development at the North Coast Business Park in Warrenton. Last year, the county put around 130 acres of the park into private ownership. Brosius and county commission incumbent Mark Kujala, who is running for a third term representing District 1, also see potential for future development at the business park.
KMUN asked Vazeen how she would respond to potential concerns about data centers.
At the end of January, Gov. Tina Kotek convened a workgroup to gauge the impacts of an increasing number of data centers on Oregon’s water, land and energy resources amid growing concerns about rising utility bills and high water usage.
Across the country, some communities have started to push back against the booming development of such centers, worried about impacts on natural resources and quality of life. Others, however, like Vazeen, see the opportunity for jobs and a diversified economy.
Vazeen told KMUN she would need to look at any potential proposal and ask a lot of questions: about square footage, water usage, the number of employees.
“I can’t answer that until I look at that proposal,” she said, “and of course, we would go with the best proposal.”
If elected, Vazeen said she would champion attainable housing options for families, seniors and young people and investments in mental heath and addition services and public safety partnerships. She is also interested in strengthening emergency preparedness and infrastructure resilience.
Vazeen taught at Clatsop Community College and then as a substitute teacher for the Astoria School District. Given her background in education, Vazeen said she would continue to be a staunch supporter of the college.
“What I have really learned is we cannot afford to lose the college,” she said.
Vazeen submitted her application for the District 3 county commissioner seat on Feb.19. KMUN had published a story the day before about three candidates running for three different seats on the board. Filing does not close until March 10. The election will be held on May 19.
2/24/26: This article has been updated to clarify the Astoria City Council’s selection of an applicant for a vacant seat