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Kelly, Alter win runoff races for Austin City Council seats

Austin City Council will welcome a new member and welcome back a reelected incumbent to its dais after Tuesday's runoff election for Districts 6 and 10. Both races largely hinged on how the candidates felt about two divisive issues: police reform and homelessness.
Mackenzie Kelly was one of three candidates who challenged Flannigan in the Nov. 3 election, running to his right. Kelly led by 677 votes when Flannigan conceded, although Election Day votes were still being counted.
District 10 Council Member Alison Alter faced six challengers during the Nov. 3 election, ultimately facing off against conservative candidate Jennifer Virden on Tuesday. She won in a close race, with 577 more votes than her opponent.
Kelly and Alter will be tasked with rewriting the city's land use code, which continues to divide the council; considering further cuts to APD's budget, an issue in which Kelly will be outnumbered by her colleagues; and implementing Project Connect, a $7.1 billion overhaul of the city's transit system.
A new face for District 6
Kelly, a client care manager who ran against Flannigan in 2014, opposes recent cuts to the police department budget and council's decision to overturn the city's camping ban. Flannigan supported both policies.
"From standing courageously behind our law enforcement community to demanding safer conditions for our homeless population to fighting for transparency at City Hall, the voice of Northwest Austin has been heard," Kelly said in a statement tweeted by Andy Hogue, who was on her campaign team.
Mackenzie gives her victory speech! https://t.co/56GHHiKAn3— Andy Hogue (@Andy Hogue) 1608090524.0
Kelly will be the lone conservative council member, following in the footsteps of Ellen Troxclair, whose term representing Southwest Austin's District 8 ended in 2018.
Kelly has drawn criticism from her opponent and others for posing in a photo with protesters who displayed white supremacist hand signals and members of the Wind Therapy Freedom Riders motorcycle group, members of which later accosted Flannigan at a campaign last month.
Flannigan was the first openly gay manr and the first Williamson County resident to serve on Austin City Council. He also served as chair of the public safety committee and was a vocal supporter of police reforms.
"The work that we're doing is important, and I'm proud of the work that I've done the last four years for this district," Flannigan said during a concession speech at his virtual watch party. "Just because the path to equality isn't straight doesn't mean we're on the wrong path."
Alter stays in place
Alter describes herself as a progressive Democrat and has spent her three years on council advocating for preservationist land use and parks. She voted to cut APD's budget but opposed the council's decision to overturn the city's camping ban.
The choice for District 10 is clear. Vote ALTER if you want experience, integrity, and proven leadership. https://t.co/OpYo50uWB9— Council Member Alter (@Council Member Alter) 1608045905.0
Virden, a real estate broker and general contractor, also opposed the camping ban. But she clashed with Alter on other issues, such as efforts to defund APD and Project Connect, both of which she opposed.
As voting comes to an end and we await the results, I want to thank everyone for their support and for believing in me and what I stand for!— Jennifer Virden for Austin City Council D10 (@Jennifer Virden for Austin City Council D10) 1608079303.0
This story has been updated to clarify that Flannigan was the first openly gay man to serve on Austin City Council. Randi Shade, who was elected in 2008, was the first openly gay member.
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Popular
(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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