Interfaith organizer, LGBTQ advocate Doug Greco running for mayor

A third official candidate jumped in to the race for mayor of Austin on Monday. Doug Greco, who announced last week that he was stepping down from his post as executive director and lead organizer of Central Texas Interfaith, announced his candidacy, declaring that he wants to address “inequality, unaffordability, (and) the increasingly difficult path of making ends meet for folks in Austin.”

Greco stresses his belief that the mayor of Austin must stand up to “the state’s effort to undo our local decisions and civil liberties.” Greco, 52, is new to being a candidate, but he is not new to the political arena.

According to his press release, during his leadership, “Central Texas Interfaith won hundreds of millions in local and state dollars for addressing homelessness, workforce development, housing and rental assistance.” He also says that he played a lead role in 2021 when his organization worked with a state interfaith group to kill Chapter 313, “Texas largest corporate tax subsidy program, which took over $1Billion/year in potential school funding and gave it instead primarily to multinational oil and gas corporations.”

So far, in addition to Greco, the candidates for mayor include former City Council Member Kathie Tovo, east side activist Carmen Llanes Pulido and, presumably, current Mayor Kirk Watson.

Greco, who is gay, stresses his background in defending LGBTQ rights and the rights of other marginalized communities as chief of staff for state Rep. Gina Hinojosa and director of programs for Equality California, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.

Greco’s 2023 book, “To Find a Killer,” lays out an organizing vision for the next phase of the LGBTQ rights movement and analyzes the 2011 murder of one his former students, who was targeted because she was gay. Greco was a teacher at Johnston High School, now Eastside Early College High School, in the Austin Independent School District.

“I’m running for Mayor because Austin needs a leader who will stand up for working people and against big money at City Hall and unchecked corporate power in politics overall,” Greco said in his press statement. “Despite Austin’s wealth and unprecedented growth, working people continue to be pushed out of the city and out of the middle class.

“As mayor I will address this by supporting unions, living wage jobs, public schools, and effective workforce development. This agenda includes ending homelessness, building affordable housing, investing in rental assistance, and ensuring any land-use code changes benefit working people and not private equity firms.”

He pointed out that in 2021, more than 40 percent of home purchases in Austin were made by investors, as opposed to people who wanted a place to live.

Greco has signed the city of Austin campaign contract, which limits the amount of money he can raise and spend, and he called on other candidates to do so.

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