Chito Vela ready to run for District 4

José Chito Vela announced on Facebook  and Twitter Wednesday that he is preparing to run for the District 4 Council seat, should its current occupant, Greg Casar, run for the District 35 congressional seat. Vela, an immigration attorney who serves on the city’s Planning Commission, chairs the board of the Workers Defense Project, where Casar worked prior to his election in 2014. In addition, Vela serves as president of the Blanton Elementary PTA. Casar announced Tuesday that he had formed an exploratory committee to help him make his decision. The committee includes numerous public officials from Travis, Hays and Bexar counties. The race for the District 35 congressional seat will likely be a hard-fought one. On the other hand, Casar has faced little opposition in running for Council since his first election in 2014. The deadline for filing for the March 2022 primary is Dec. 13, so Casar has until then to make his candidacy official. Once he does, his Council seat will be open, but he will continue to serve until a new Council member is elected. Other candidates for the District 4 seat are likely to announce their intentions soon, but Vela seems to have a head-start at this point.