Tovo ready to turn in signatures

Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo, who represents City Council District 9, has been working for several months to gather signatures so that she can run for a third term. She told the Austin Monitor that she intends to file those signatures with the city clerk around noon on Tuesday. Council members are allowed to run for two four-year terms, and Tovo has had just one. However, she also served for three years on the previous Council before voters decided to elect their representatives by districts. Tovo will probably turn in significantly more signatures than the 3,500 needed to get her name on the November ballot. Her opponents are Danielle Skidmore and Linda O’Neal. Skidmore, a transgender woman with an engineering background, has gathered significant support from the tech community, while O’Neal appears to be a less-than-serious candidate. O’Neal filed her campaign treasurer designation on July 2, and that document shows that she does not intend to raise or spend more than $500 on the race.