Local · Trusted · Free
The Morning Impact — your neighborhood's most important stories, delivered every morning.
Almost two dozen candidates have filed to run in Austin's five City Council races this fall, four of which may include incumbents seeking reelection.
The big picture
Half of Austin's council seats are on the November general election ballot, with candidates in districts 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 seeking four-year terms starting in January. Residents can look up their council district online.
District 1 is the only open seat race as two-term council member Natasha Harper-Madison reaches her term limit and will leave office at the end of the year. Incumbent District 3 council member José Velásquez, District 5 council member Ryan Alter, District 8 council member Paige Ellis and District 9 council member Zo Qadri are all seeking to hold their seats.
Zooming in
Following the August deadline, 23 local candidates are likely in contention for the five contested council positions. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order; the city will hold a random drawing for ballot order Aug. 26.
District 1
District 3
District 5
District 8
District 9
Runoff elections are required when no candidate wins at least 50% of the vote in their race. Any runoffs would be held Dec. 12.
Some context
Ellis is also term-limited, but petitioned her constituency this year to allow her to seek a third term.
Such petitions must be signed by at least 5% of qualified voters in an elected official's jurisdiction. District 8 had 60,887 qualified voters as of January, according to the city clerk's office, meaning the signature threshold for the district in this election is 3,044.
Ellis' campaign reported signatures from more than 3,400 voters were collected for its petition, submitted ahead of the candidate filing deadline Aug. 17. In a statement, Ellis said she was encouraged by her constituents' support to continue serving in the role she's held since 2019.
Ellis was not officially on the list of completed candidate ballot applications as of press time Aug. 18, as the clerk's office was still in the process of validating the petition. Unlike some resident-initiated petitions that require thousands more signatures and can be validated through a random sampling, the clerk's office is verifying each line on Ellis' petition until the threshold is reached or all signatures are reviewed. The ballot application status will be posted online after that process is complete.
What residents should know
All Austin voters will also be considering two bond propositions and multiple charter amendments on the Nov. 3 election ballot.
Residents have until Oct. 5 to register to vote in the general election. Voter registration information is available from Hays, Travis and Williamson counties and from the state of Texas.
Early voting will run from Oct. 19-30, and the last day for eligible voters to apply for a ballot by mail is Oct. 23.
