Liv “Viva Las Vegas” Osthus Could Be Next Mayor of Portland, OR

Multi-Talented Candidate Will Trade Platform Shoes for a Mayoral Platform

The customers who tip Viva Las Vegas at Mary’s Club in Portland OR are used to hearing her end sets with, “Thank you for supporting the arts.” Now that she has thrown her metaphorically stereotypical garter into the political ring by officially announcing her run for Mayor of the City of Roses (and strip clubs), Liv “Viva Las Vegas” Osthus hopes the entire city will remember it, and vote for her on November 5, 2024.

Given that Portland has seen the likes of public cable’s on-camera pooping Jim Spagg and artist-performer Extremo the Clown run for Mayor, an intelligent, articulate, activist-minded sex worker isn’t that weird in a city that thrives on the motto “Keep Portland Weird.”

 

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Her platform’s fine details are still being developed but the essence of her message is that Portlander’s need “hope” after what Osthus’s campaign site calls “a lack of compassionate leadership and vision.” As Osthus points out, “It’s time for that to change.” Although, like past and beloved Mayor Bud Clark, Osthus has no political or managerial experience, she does have a 25-year-long history of hearing the stories of working-class club-visiting Portlanders, members of the various creative communities and subcultures, as well as women who work within the adult entertainment industry. That’s a lot of voices that aren’t usually considered by mainstream politicians.

In addition to her political aspirations and extensive experience as an exotic dancer, Osthus is known as an author, writer, musician, TED Talk speaker, and advocate for sex workers. Arriving on the Portland scene in 1997 to pursue a career in music, she escaped the grind of data entry to become an exotic dancer and hasn’t stopped since. When not dancing to the music, she has written a memoir, appeared in a documentary about herself, and been the star of a locally produced opera.

A 49-year-old single mother of one, Osthus knows that life is not an endless series of sexy dances with people tossing dollar bills onto a stage. In 2008, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, had her left breast removed, and returned to the stage as soon as she was able. Now, she says that cancer treatment nurses sometimes recommend that cancer patients take in one of her shows at Mary’s because the audience is accepting and admiring even after the change to her body.

“No one noticed,” she told Willamette Week about the crowd at Mary’s Club’s reaction to her mastectomy. Once she had her daughter in 2015, she gave birth to her daughter and realized that having a regular stream of income was essential, as was quality family time, something that working in the adult industry provided her.

 

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Called the “Diva of the Demimonde” by Geek Love author Katherine Dunn, Osthus has written for The Village Voice and The New York Times Magazine, among other publication, had two books published, been the subject of Thank You for Supporting the Arts, a feature-length documentary, and Viva’s Holiday, a one-act opera. Running against three seasoned political adversaries, on the other hand, is entirely new.

Encouraged and mentored by current City Commissioner member and fellow mayoral candidate Mingus Mapps to run against him and, most importantly, progressive competitor Carmen Rubio, Osthus envisions a city run by a 12-member City Council. “We need a mayor that reminds the city of its soul,” she says. Unlike her competitors, Osthus wants to advocate for artists and small businesses, which she believes are “the soul of the city.” According to the mayoral hopeful, “That’s the way we’re going to come back as a city.”

Osthus believes that by supporting brick-and-mortar creative establishments, more broad-based businesses will appear to support their foot traffic. An art studio leads to a coffee shop and other related business ventures. On less esoteric issues, she envisions a city that works with community college trade programs to build a skilled workforce, connects agricultural leaders with school and low-income nutritional programs, provides greater transparency regarding the spending of billions of environmental initiative dollars, boosts funding for cultural and community street fairs and events, providing realistic and effective solutions to the homeless crisis, defending renters from housing instability, and promoting racial equity in homeownership.

As for anyone who thinks her dance experience invalidates any of her other qualifications, Osthus counters, she told Willamette Week that “Strippers are amazingly strong, graceful human beings inside and out. I would invite them into Mary’s to let me change their minds.”

Thank you for supporting the arts.