AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: KVUE's Britny Eubank contributed to this story.
Just ahead of the November election, candidates for multiple city council district seats are participating in a virtual forum on institutional racism.
The candidates for Districts 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10 are expected to talk about policing, gentrification, the COVID-19 relief fund, development of the Austin Equity Office, funding for Austin Public Health and access to low-income housing.
Alex Strenger will not participate in the forum as he announced Sunday he is dropping out of the District 2 race and is endorsing his former opponent, Casey Ramos.
Strenger said he got into the race because Austin needs "practical, actionable and non-divisive solutions in order to address our affordability, homelessness and policing concerns," and he said Ramos shares his concerns and has a similar vision for addressing them.
"The only problem is that we are running against each other in the same district, when we should instead be working together in order to get one of us elected. So, when you have a candidate like Casey Ramos, who already has widespread community support within the district, well, it's a no-brainer," Strenger told KVUE.
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District 4 candidates Greg Casar and Ramesses Setepenre II and District 10 candidate Ben Easton spoke in the first session. District 2 candidates Vanessa Fuentes and David Chincanchan, District 6 candidate Jimmy Flannigan, and District 7 candidates Leslie Pool and Morgan Witt spoke in the second session.
WATCH THE FORUM BELOW (Forum was scheduled to start at 5 p.m., but begins nearly 30:00 into the stream):
District 2
Fuentes describes herself as a proud southeast Austinite, community organizer and public health advocate. She was raised by a Mexican immigrant mother and military veteran father and is a first-generation college graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. For the past five years, she has worked as a director at the American Heart Association.
Chincanchan was raised in southeast Austin and says he "understands firsthand how the affordability crisis is impacting our neighborhoods." According to his website, he has worked to advance affordable housing and public transportation initiatives in the city.
To view the other candidates who were not in the forum, click here.
District 4
Casar, the incumbent for District 4, describes himself as a labor and community organizer. He is the son of Mexican immigrants and the youngest person ever elected to the city council. According to his website, while on the council, he has passed policies to "disrupt" mass incarceration and deportation, support Planned Parenthood and "end inexcusable tax breaks for the wealthiest." He is also the sponsor of Austin's paid sick days law.
Setepenre describes himself as a "self-funded, gay eco-socialist" who is "pro-Black, brown, LGBTQIA+, women’s rights, indigenous rights, sex work, drug decriminalization, health care for all, slavery reparations, living wages, getting money out of politics [and a] Green New Deal."
To view the other candidates who were not in the forum, click here.
District 6
Flannigan is a small business owner who has lived in northwest Austin for 20 years, according to his website. He is the former president of the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Austin Chamber's Transportation Committee and the co-founder of the Northwest Austin Coalition.
To view the other candidates who were not in the forum, click here.
District 7
According to her website, Pool, the incumbent, has been a key part of the City's climate protection strategies. Last November, she sponsored both a resolution to identify financing to fund the construction of two new rail stations on Austin's Red Line in District 7 and the authorization of the public-private Red Line Parkway Trail partnership. She has also worked on numerous "open government" initiatives.
Witt describes herself as a "newcomer to the Austin political scene." She started her career as a K-12 Spanish teacher before moving into Adult Basic Education and currently works as a Bilingual Education Advisor. She is a native Austinite who believes there are long-standing inequities in the city that should be addressed.
District 10
Easton is an author, software trainer, freelance writer and former math teacher. According to the Austin Monitor, he has lived in Austin for more than 17 years.
To view the other candidates who were not in the forum, click here.
Once the polls close on Nov. 3, KVUE will keep track of the 2020 election results here. Mail-in ballots that are postmarked before Nov. 3 can be received by local elections offices by 5 p.m. the day after Election Day, so mail-in ballots in Texas are expected to take longer to tally.
Be sure to download KVUE's app to get updates as they come in: kvue.com/app. Also be sure to follow KVUE on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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