City Council Campaign 2018

Sabino "Pio" Renteria (by Jana Birchum)

It's very early, but a couple of hats have been thrown into the ring for next fall's municipal election. Sabino "Pio" Renteria – City Council District 3 incumbent – recently took his first step toward re-election, filing a campaign treasurer appointment (John Hernan­dez) with the city clerk. Renteria, whose decision to run for re-election is not a surprise, also hosted an informal campaign kickoff-cum-birthday celebration May 31 at the Hard Luck Lounge.

A fledgling entry in the candidate ranks is Shane Sexton, a St. Edward's police officer and officer training coordinator, and the earliest challenger to file a (self-designated) CTA to begin a campaign in District 8, where Ellen Troxclair is the incumbent. Sexton told the Chronicle he sees himself as a "lifetime public servant" rather than a politician, and said that failures to keep promises (he cited Donald Trump on his health care policies before and after election) had motivated him to run for office. He charged Troxclair with making misleading statements about Austin's traffic crises: "She said 30% of local fatalities involve unlicensed drivers, describing that as a major problem. I filed an open records request and confirmed the percentage is actually under 13%, and that's only if you include motorcycle accidents where the rider was not officially certified for motorcycles. It's misleading."

Sexton also noted that most of the current council members had promised a 20% homestead exemption on property taxes, but are dragging their heels at 8%. That's a position he shares with the incumbent, who has pushed her colleagues to speedily increase the exemption.

Sexton says he will hold his official campaign kickoff July 21, at Santa Rita Cantina South, at 5900 W. Slaughter.