The Austin Current

Two new, but likely familiar faces, are vying for the District 8 Austin City Council seat this November. Paige Ellis, who currently holds the position, petitioned to seek a third term, but fell short of the signature threshold in August. That leaves Selena Xie, who led the Austin EMS Association, and Jeffery Bowen, who previously ran for mayor, on the ballot. You can find who represents you on the city’s website.

Against a backdrop of downtown development and transformation, voters living in Austin’s most central City Council district will decide Nov. 3 whether to stick with their current council member or elect someone new.

Austin City Council Member Ryan Alter is running for his second term to represent District 5. He faces challengers David Weinberg, Liz Brink and Farrah Abraham. District 5, which includes areas of South and Southwest Austin, is home to more than 95,000 people, and the median home sale price is around $475,000, according to city data. Alter ran four years ago vowing to put a focus on affordability. “Four years later, we’ve achieved some amazing results,” Alter said.

Austin City Council has borrowed $566 million without voter approval since 2024, a surge driven largely by one main reason: real estate. The borrowing, through certificates of obligation, accounts for more than 60% of the $883 million Austin has issued over the last decade. Council members say it’s largely to buy or fix up buildings, a strategic move intended to save money by avoiding higher renovation costs for run down, city-owned property and reduce the reliance on leased office space.

Texans will pick their next governor, U.S. senator and more than a dozen statewide elected officials during the Nov. 3 general election. Also on the ballot are also members of Congress, state lawmakers and district-based judges. Locally, there are five Austin City Council districts on the ballot as well as five places on the Austin ISD Board of Trustees, including an at-large position.

With only days before the deadline to submit petitions to the state, Burnet and Webb middle school parents are racing to collect signatures to ask the state to close their own campuses under a little known and largely unused law crafted to give parents a say over state intervention. But early numbers show how far they have to go: Parents representing just 11% of Burnet students and 2% of Webb students had signed as of Friday. Now the weight of the Austin Council of PTAs is behind the effort.

Austin leaders crowded City Hall’s front steps Wednesday to denounce Proposition I, the November ballot measure that would amend the city charter and require an independent audit of all city operations every five years. The rally’s speakers, which included U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, and Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, are not opposed to an audit of city spending.

Austin and Travis County’s ambitious new program aimed at breaking the costly cycle of homelessness, hospitalization and jail for people with complex mental health issues is facing growing criticism over the central role police officers play in connecting them to resources. The burgeoning No Wrong Door program kicked off in March after local leaders decided that Austin needed a new approach to help people with severe mental health needs stay off the streets and out of jail.

Austin ISD will be the subject of state scrutiny once again, with a new investigation into the district’s finances led by the state comptroller and spurred on by Gov. Greg Abbott. Texas Comptroller Don Huffines announced Monday that Austin, as well as Barbers Hill, El Paso, and Prosper school districts, would undergo a detailed financial review.

This Nov. 3. midterm election is almost here. Austinites will get the chance to cast ballots and help decide on everything from our next U.S. Senator to a handful of local judges. Here are all the candidates on the general election ballot, according to the Secretary of State and Austin-area counties. Statewide seats, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, land commissioner, agriculture commissioner and comptroller are on the ballot.