Chronicle Endorsements for the November 3 Midterm Elections

In the nonpartisan local races – City Council, ACC, and AISD – we’ve spelled out our reasons for our endorsements. In statewide races, we’re going to make this easy: Vote Democrat. Full stop. Even for candidates we declined to endorse in the Democratic primary, we still think they’re going to be better than any Republican on the ballot, because what we need right now is top-to-bottom housecleaning. It’s the only way to push back on the damage the GOP stranglehold has done at federal and state levels: the lawlessness of ICE, the decimation of our public schools, the affordability crisis, the rollbacks of environmental protections, the refusal to meaningfully address the rise of AI, the rank corruption and self-dealing of elected officials … The list, infuriatingly, goes on and on.

We encourage you to vote like democracy depends on it – because we really do think it’s that dire. The fact that state Republicans have by and large refused to debate their Democratic opponents speaks volumes: that they do not think they have to work for your vote. They do not think they have to answer to Texas voters. Now if that’s out of fear, or apathy, or certainty that Republicans will always win the state, who can say? But in a time of deep anger at the government and nationwide calls for transformational change, we the voters have a golden opportunity here to prove them wrong. Let’s make it count. 

The Austin Chronicle’s endorsements reflect the consensus opinion of the Chronicle’s editorial board, which includes our news staff, editor-in-chief, managing editor, and the paper’s co-founder. If consensus cannot be reached, the result will be a split endorsement or no endorsement. The Chronicle does not share its endorsements in advance with any candidate; they find out the same time our readers do on the Thursday before early voting begins. 

The below list does not include uncontested races. Incumbents are denoted with an (i). Given the scope of the Chronicle’s coverage area, we have included some races outside of Travis County. 

Find more information, including polling location info and a streamlined version of these endorsements, at austinchronicle.com/elections.

Federal U.S. Senator: James Talarico U.S. House, District 10: Caitlin Rourk  U.S. House, District 11: Claire Reynolds  U.S. House, District 17: Casey Shepard U.S. House, District 21: Kristin Hook  U.S. House, District 27: Tanya Lloyd U.S. House, District 31: Justin Early U.S. House, District 35: Johnny Garcia   U.S. House, District 37: Greg Casar State Governor: Gina Hinojosa  Lieutenant Governor: Vikki Goodwin  Attorney General: Nathan Johnson  Comptroller: Sarah Eckhardt  Land Commissioner: Benjamin Flores  Agriculture Commissioner: Clayton Tucker  Railroad Commissioner: Jon Rosenthal  Supreme Court, Chief Justice: Maggie Ellis  Supreme Court, Place 2: Chari Kelly  Supreme Court, Place 7: Kristen Hawkins  Supreme Court, Place 8: Gisela D. Triana  Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3: Okey Anyiam  Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 4: Audra Riley  Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9: Holly Taylor  State Board of Education, District 5: Allison Bush  Texas Senate, District 5: Paul Thomasson  Texas Senate, District 21: Judith Zaffirini (i) Texas House, District 19: Tom Luck Texas House, District 45: Erin Zwiener (i) Texas House, District 47: Pooja Sethi  Texas House, District 48: Donna Howard (i) Texas House, District 49: Montserrat Garibay  Texas House, District 50: Samantha Lopez-Resendez  Texas House, District 51: Lulu Flores (i) Chief Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District: Jerry Zimmerer Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District, Place 2: Tom Baker Justice, 15th Court of Appeals District, Place 3: Marc M. Meyer Chief Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals District: Darlene Byrne (i) County

Most county office races – which includes county judge and commissioners, district clerk, justice of the peace, and more – are unopposed, though incumbent County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado has drawn a write-in opponent, LaShawn Nash. We respect Nash’s long service as an elections clerk and elections judge, but we think Limon-Mercado has done a fine job leading the County Clerk’s Office during a challenging time.

Travis Central Appraisal District, Travis County, Board of Directors, Place 3: Yvonne Muñoz

If you are unfamiliar with the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors race, you’re likely not alone. The board’s first election was held in 2024 after a bill was passed that requires three of the nine members to be voted in by Travis County voters. The appraisal district is responsible for determining the market value of properties in the county each year, governed by the board of directors, which is in charge of hiring the chief appraiser and approving the annual budget. Both candidates, Phil Gorman and Yvonne Muñoz, seem to be well-versed for the position given their professional experiences. But because Muñoz currently serves as chief of staff to state Rep. Vincent Perez, a member of the Ways & Means Committee, which oversees property tax appraisal laws, we think that she has a slight leg up on Gorman.

Austin City Council  Council, District 1: Amber Goodwin and Misael Ramos (dual endorsement)

This accomplished field of candidates does not present an easy choice. Alexandria Anderson, Portia Riggins, and Steven Brown brought frankly inspiring passion about their East Austin community to our conversations. Even so, we’re recommending two (quite different) candidates: Amber Goodwin, a former attorney in the Travis County D.A.’s Office, and Misael Ramos, a Democratic Socialist and longtime community organizer. Ramos has been a vocal advocate for Austin’s immigrant community and would bring necessary knowledge about affordable housing development to Council. We expect that Goodwin, with greater policy-level experience, would bring needed expertise on public safety and valuable connections at the county level. We leave the choice to our readers.

Council, District 3: José Velásquez (i)

José Velásquez’s challengers this election cycle bring valid critiques of the incumbent. We found Neha Shah to be particularly competitive, with unique ideas for how to better knit together East Austin small businesses and constituents with the D3 office. Gavin Fernandez Jr.’s decades of advocacy in East Austin must be acknowledged. At the same time, Velásquez has proved to be a relatively accessible Council member, is a consistent advocate of Austin’s immigrant community and affordable housing, and aligns with our views on Prop I. We believe Velásquez is still the best pick for this seat.

Council, District 5: Ryan Alter (i)

We argued about this one. A lot. We know that Ryan Alter (and the Council as a whole) is not in the best standing with Austinites, especially when it comes to his support of controversial development projects like Dog’s Head, and his “everything’s fine” attitude shows a frustrating lack of self-awareness. But he has shown genuine compassion in working to assist the city’s homeless community, and we laud his commitment to social services funding. Of his opponents, David Weinberg brings beneficial experience as an environmental and voting rights advocate, but in the room, he only made a case against Alter, and failed to make a case for himself as the superior candidate.

Council, District 8: Selena Xie

We’re down with Selena for D8. She is personable, well-informed, and has values that align with ours at the Chronicle. Her years as an EMS paramedic and union leader have given her an in-the-trenches understanding of public safety, homelessness, and city bureaucracy, and we believe she’ll make the transition to Council look effortless. We also value Jeffery Bowen’s role as a tenacious fiscal watchdog and are quite certain he’ll continue to speak his mind regardless of the election results. 

Council, District 9: Rich Heyman

It’s not that the Chronicle doesn’t want to see dense, affordable, mixed-use developments built close to Downtown and along major transportation corridors. But we are concerned about the pro-development tilt on Council that brought us the Dog’s Head project among other things. Incumbent Zo Qadri is a strong advocate for building affordable housing through market-based strategies and he did take a vote against the Dog’s Head Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone proposal, but we are endorsing Rich Heyman, a former professor of urban studies and community organizer who believes that Austin needs to shift its economic policy to focus on lower-income residents. If Heyman is elected – a big if – we hope he can lean on his background in equitable development to add a fresh perspective on how to keep these residents from being displaced. 

City Special Election

Here’s our cantankerous take on the city propositions, based on the general proposition that governments are like 2-year-olds: If you don’t watch them carefully every second, they wander off and do mindless things to hurt themselves and others.

Propositions A and B are to issue bonds, to be paid for via property taxes; propositions C through J are amendments to the City Charter.

Prop. A (parks): Yes Prop. B (libraries): Yes

C’mon folks, this is parks and libraries – worthwhile causes and two relatively well-run city departments. Prop A would authorize $260 million for parks, recreation, aquatics, and open space. It’s a bit concerning that there’s no solid list of projects, because PARD staff has had some clunker ideas in the past; but that’s why the Parks Board is one of our most important citizen commissions. Prop B would authorize $35 million for library facilities – in particular improvements to the Oak Hill branch, and construction of a new Colony Park branch in Northeast Austin. The total cost for both is estimated around $50 per year for an average homeowner.

(Editor’s note: This figure is apparently open to debate. We based it on the League of Women Voters Guide, which claimed to be “based on the assumptions in [the city’s] voter information document.” But backers of the proposition claim that figure should be $42 instead, citing an Aug. 4 city staff presentation to City Council. As of yet, we’re unable to determine which figure is closer to valid.)

Prop. C: Yes

This would clarify that the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is independent of City Council control, and would make some procedural changes in how it operates. The ICRC is the body that draws the boundaries for the 10 City Council districts. The intent has always been that this process be independent of political control, and the other changes sound beneficial.

Prop. D: No

This would remove the charter requirement that City Council meet at least once a week. Why? So that they can do even more of their business off the dais, out of public view? And why would that be a good thing?

Prop. E: No

This would remove the charter requirement that City Council change its meeting rules by ordinance – by voting on them openly. Why change that? So that they can do even more of their business off the dais, out of public view? And why would that be a good thing?

Prop. F: Yes

City Council sets the rules for campaign contribution and spending limits for Council elections. Under this proposal, Council would set those rules by Jan. 1, instead of during budget adoption in the fall. This sounds logical.

Prop. G: Yes and No

This would require that all citizen-initiated elections be held in November of an even-numbered year – that is, concurrent with high-turnout federal and state elections. So yes, you get more people voting then, but on the other hand, the issues get a lot less scrutiny, getting buried at the end of a long ballot with attention focused on higher-profile races. Which value is more important? We were split on this one.

Prop. H: Yes

This would provide that the city attorney would be appointed and replaced by City Council, instead of the city manager. The city attorney is a largely technical and advisory position, advising Council and city staff on legal matters. It’s rarely going to matter, but if push comes to shove, it’s probably better that the city legal staff answers to the elected officials who in turn have to answer to voters.

Prop. I: No

This requirement for an outside audit is redundant of good work already being done by independent auditors hired by the city audit department. The intent is clear and admirable – who doesn’t want the city government to be spending money wisely and efficiently? But the details of the proposal are somewhat ambiguous and seem more likely to be used as a cudgel against social welfare programs, than to expose and remedy wasteful spending.

Prop. J: Yes

This one just fixes typographical and grammatical errors, and removes language that’s obsolete or invalid. There’s no policy impact and no reason to oppose it.

Austin Community College ACC Trustee, Place 1: Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia

Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia has served on the Leander ISD Board of Trustees for eight years and carries a padded background in serving both K-12 and higher education. She appears to be very present in the community, gaining endorsements from a wide range of city, county, and state leaders, which could prove helpful in establishing future partnerships for ACC. We also believe her experience helping single mothers navigate their educational careers with the Jeremiah Program could be beneficial in her role as a board member. 

ACC Trustee, Place 3: Nan McRaven (i)

Nan McRaven knows the ins and outs of the ACC Board of Trustees, having served for almost 25 years. During that time, the college’s enrollment numbers have increased, and McRaven helped roll out the Free Tuition Pilot Program, expanding access to higher education for an often overlooked demographic. While we were impressed with her opponent Trevor Hale’s experiences working at multiple universities around the nation, we believe that ACC is in good standing and the incumbent has the institutional knowledge to keep it that way.

Austin Independent School District

The 2026 Austin ISD trustee election deserves context. The school district is waiting on an intervention decision from the Texas Education Agency. State takeover is a strong possibility, which means that the folks we elect to this board in November could lose their authority in mere months and be replaced with state-appointed managers.

Nonetheless, we believe that who we elect to this board still matters a great deal. They may become our voice when we face the systemic and classroom-level changes TEA has imposed in Houston and Fort Worth ISDs. We think that we should elect people who already have histories of public education advocacy, who already know AISD families, and who have the legal and political know-how to best advocate for Austin in this unprecedented situation.

AISD Trustee, District 1: Candace Hunter (i)

This race presents a unique decision between the incumbent, Candace Hunter, and Cheryl Bradley, who served as District 1’s longtime trustee from 2002 to 2015. We wish that Hunter had proved to be a more accessible trustee for her constituents. We understand that Bradley would bring valuable historical knowledge of district governance. But at this unique moment, when state laws and the accountability system have shifted since 2015, we believe continuity on this board is even more important.

AISD Trustee, District 4: Jessica Neufeld

Jessica Neufeld stood out to us as the right person for this position. A lawyer who is already deeply enmeshed in the AISD community and existing efforts to retain local control of the school district, Neufeld has worked to increase cross-district connectivity before takeover was even on our radar. We believe her experience in community organizing and fluency in legalese would be invaluable at this moment.

AISD Trustee, District 6: Sarah Dille

Sarah Dille has the best of both areas of life experience: as a lifelong educator – both for children as a classroom teacher and for other teachers as an instructional coach – and as an AISD parent with skin in the game. While we believe Marie Lebron is competitive for this seat, we think Dille is best prepared to take on this position right now.

AISD Trustee, District 7: Jimmy Counihan

Multiple candidates this year bring the perspective of community-oriented AISD parents concerned about their children’s future, which we think is great. But we also believe that a balance of different skills and expertise on this board would be beneficial right now. That’s why we chose AISD graduate Jimmy Counihan, who brings years of legislative experience from the Texas House, the Legislative Budget Board, and the comptroller’s office. Although we admire Laurie Solis’ experience as a volunteer and advocate, we believe Counihan’s professional experience would be useful given the district’s gloomy predicament.

AISD Trustee, At-Large Position 9: Pamela Mathai

Both Pamela Mathai and Cynthia Soliz gave convincing pitches for the AISD At-Large Position 9 seat. Mathai is a veteran classroom teacher in some of the state’s largest urban school districts: Austin, Dallas, and Houston ISDs. Cynthia Soliz, on the other hand, carries a law background and years of experience working in education advocacy. Both parents of AISD students, we think either of these candidates could be effective on the board. But we’re endorsing Mathai, who brings the rare perspective of a former AISD educator who can now dedicate her time and expertise to service on the board.

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