Early voting starts today in City Council District 8, as well as Districts 1 and 3, for the Dec. 11 runoff elections. Frank Ward, the outspoken Republican seeking to represent Southwest Austin’s District 8 on the Austin City Council, believes a substantial portion of Austin’s city government is broken. He also believes that the representative […]
District 8
District 8 contains three distinct neighborhoods, Oak Hill, Circle C and Travis Country. The district is bounded on the east by Brodie Lane, on the south by the Travis-Hays county line, on the north by Bee Cave road and on the west by the winding Austin city limits line. It also has the city’s biggest and most infamous traffic bottleneck – the Oak Hill Y, the convergence of US 290 and SH 71, squeezing traffic heading to and from South MoPac Boulevard and out into the Hill Country.
Posted inElections
Tight D8 race headed to runoff to fill Troxclair’s seat
The City Council seat for Southwest Austin is headed for another runoff to determine new representation for District 8, with incomplete results Wednesday morning pointing to newcomers Paige Ellis, who won 30.5 percent of the vote, and Frank Ward. who won 24.7 percent, set for a Dec. 11 race. Ellis and Ward won the top […]
Posted inElections
Differences stark among D8 candidates vying to succeed Troxclair
In the City Council district with the lone conservative Republican representative on the 11-member body, voters in District 8 face a choice in November: elect a Council member who will remain a brake of sorts on policies that largely reflect a progressive agenda or pick someone who will be more in harmony with the other […]
Posted inElections
Candidates in Districts 1 and 8 working hard
In City Council District 8 and District 1, incumbents Ellen Troxclair and Ora Houston are retiring. In each case, the current council member has announced her endorsement of a candidate to take her seat in January. However, that has not made the endorsement process much easier for those candidates. Houston endorsed Vincent Harding for District […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: District 8 candidate Rich DePalma
This week, City Council candidate Rich DePalma sits down with Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard to explain why he is seeking the District 8 seat. Hear his reasons for running and more below, where the entire show has been embedded. Austin Monitor Radio is produced in partnership with KOOP 91.7 FM. The Austin Monitor’s work […]
Posted inElections
Fourth candidate enters race for District 8
Frank Ward, 36, threw his hat in the ring for the District 8 City Council seat on Monday with the endorsement of the current occupant of that seat, Council Member Ellen Troxclair. Troxclair, the only Republican on the dais, recently announced that she would not run for a second term. Ward joins three other candidates, […]
Posted inCity Council
Troxclair decides not to seek re-election
Council Member Ellen Troxclair, the lone conservative on City Council, announced Wednesday that she would not be seeking re-election to her District 8 seat. Troxclair was elected as part of the first group of Council members elected from districts, and she represents the southwest part of the city. In a press statement, Troxclair characterized her […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: District 8 candidate Paige Ellis
In this week’s radio show, City Council candidate Paige Ellis joins Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard and editor Elizabeth Pagano to talk about why she wants to represent District 8, and where she differs from her opponents on city issues. The whole thing is embedded below, so get to listening: The Austin Monitor’s work is […]
Posted inElections
DePalma announces run for District 8
Rich DePalma, a consultant who has worked on numerous environmental efforts, officially threw his hat in the ring Tuesday to represent Austinites who live in District 8. Council Member Ellen Troxclair currently holds the seat and has said she is running for re-election in November. In addition to DePalma and Troxclair, the candidates who have […]
Posted inElections
Crowded field of candidates emerges to challenge Troxclair in Southwest Austin
In addition to Mayor Steve Adler, five City Council members are up for re-election this November. In three of those races – District 9, District 5 and District 3 – nobody has yet declared their intention of running against the incumbent, although challengers will most likely emerge eventually. The one race that is attracting a […]
Posted inCity Council
Troxclair continues to fight
In 2018, Council Member Ellen Troxclair will be having a baby and running for office in addition to continuing to serve as the lone conservative on City Council. Despite a crowded agenda ahead, Troxclair sat down with the Austin Monitor to take a look back at the past year’s wins and losses. She started with […]
Posted inCity Council
Troxclair has opinions
This year, District 8 City Council Member Ellen Troxclair welcomed her first child. She also saw her fair share of accomplishments (and frustrations) within City Hall in 2016. Troxclair counted “making some progress on the Homestead Exemption” among her accomplishments for the year, though she pointed out that the exemption still isn’t quite up to […]