Austin City Council Member Paige Ellis has submitted a petition to seek a third term for her District 8 seat. While council members are usually limited to two four-year terms, city rules say she can run again if she has the support from her constituents.
To seek an additional term, the Austin city charter states that a council member must garner support from 5% of qualified voters in their district.
Ellis’ district covers parts of South and Southwest Austin. City officials confirmed she needs signatures from 3,044 qualified voters based on the 60,887 verified voters as of January. Earlier this week, she submitted more than 3,400 signatures to the Austin city clerk.
“There are still a lot of big projects happening in the district, like the MoPac South expansion, and some work we are trying to do to help [Austin Community College] with their campus in the district,” she said. “And so, it didn’t feel like the right time to step away.”
Ellis has lived in the district for 15 years, and said her institutional knowledge could be helpful for four more years.
Fresh perspectives
But the two candidates for the District 8 seat think it’s time for new ideas and fresh blood.
Jeff Bowen, who has lived in the district for nearly 40 years, hopes to fill Ellis’ seat.
“You have people that have a tendency that want to make politics a career, and it really shouldn’t be about a career,” Bowen said. “It should be about going in and doing what you believe is the people’s work, and then moving on after a certain amount of time.”
Selena Xie, who has lived in the district for two years, is also vying for the seat.
“I think we need to have more types of perspectives on city council and having somebody serve more than eight years, which is what city of Austin residents agreed to, for no real discernable reason… is very disturbing to me,” Xie said.
Bowen and Xie said Ellis has already had eight years to finish these projects.
One more term
Ellis isn’t the first council member to seek an additional term. The last person to do it was former Council Member Kathie Tovo.
Tovo successfully petitioned for and won a third term on the Austin City Council in 2018. She said she knows how that additional time can be beneficial for pushing through projects, like the connection she helped forge between the city and the Austin Independent School District.
She said serving on the council and learning how to craft and implement policy has a steep learning curve, and it can take time to make effective change. Although, she said having unfinished projects is just the nature of the work.
“In my opinion, in my case, I was a much stronger policy maker when I left than I was when I started,” Tovo said. “And so it felt like I could really bring value in that third term.”
Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said there are some benefits to having a person stay in office longer. Often, he said the person in the job develops expertise in complicated areas.
But, he said term limits are there for a reason, and generally people support them.
“[Term limits] allows for new ideas, new representation,” Blank said. “But there’s also a negative argument, which is that it keeps a legislative body, of any kind, or from individuals, maybe collecting too much power from being in office for too long.”
Blank said this election cycle could be risky for incumbents, because across the country, including in Texas, voters have shown they’re unhappy with the status quo. He said voters are willing to support new candidates.
If Ellis’ petition is validated, she will be the third and final candidate in the race for the District 8 seat. Election Day is Nov. 3.
