AUSTIN, Texas — Local attorney Richard Smith announced on Monday he is running for Austin City Council in District 8, which covers southwest Austin and includes communities such as Oak Hill, Circle C and Travis Country.
Smith, a conservative, will face liberal incumbent District 8 Councilmember Paige Ellis, who is up for reelection this year.
Smith, a former patent judge, said he moved to Austin in the mid-'90s. He is a member of the Austin Board of Adjustment, which rules on city zoning ordinances. He was appointed to that role by District 6 Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly.
“It is time for District 8 to have an engaged, passionate and fiscally responsible representative on city council that cares about the safety, prosperity and affordability of Austin,” Smith said in a release. “Police response times and traffic fatalities are unacceptably high. Violent crime is spiking across our city. Property taxes and rents are skyrocketing, making Austin less affordable. And our traffic congestion is unsustainable. The rapid growth in District 8 requires responsible attention to traffic issues and proactive awareness of the character of existing communities.”
Smith said he believes the City should increase police staffing and said Austin’s Housing First policy, which provides those experiencing homelessness with subsidized housing, “has failed.”
Smith earned his law degree from the University of Houston and later taught at the University of Texas law school.
Austin’s new city council district map could have implications on this year’s November elections, including in District 8, according to KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman.
The new map, which the City certified in October 2021, was drawn by a commission of community volunteers to rebalance district populations based on 2020 census data. The redistricting commission was not to consider politics when drawing the map.
But the updated map will likely move District 8 to the political right by adding some historically conservative or moderate neighborhoods south of the river near Pennybacker Bridge and Loop 360, the Statesman reports.
"I look forward to getting to know the new District 8 constituents and will work hard to represent them well," Ellis told the Statesman.
Ellis was one of five liberal candidates to win a council seat in 2018, the same year Mayor Steve Adler won a second term. District 8 was previously represented by Ellen Troxclair, a Republican who represented District 8 since its creation in 2014. In June, Troxclair announced her candidacy for Texas Senate District 24.
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