For the last eight years, Austin City Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison has represented District 1, one of Austin’s biggest districts that stretches all the way from parts of East Seventh Street to north of East Parmer Lane in the Dessau area, out to the city’s eastern boundary.
It’s now time to change hands. District 1 residents will soon choose between six candidates to succeed Harper-Madison on Nov. 3. And after the last eight years, many East Austin residents feel underrepresented by their city’s government.
“People want to be able to engage and see their Council member, and that has fluctuated for a number of reasons in our district,” candidate Alexandria Anderson told the Chronicle. “For me, it’s that people know where they can find me, and that I’ll show up.”
At candidate forums, East Austin residents have brought up issues that they’d like to see better addressed by their future Council member: affordability and rapid gentrification, the shuttering of their neighborhood public schools, chronic cycles of homelessness in their community, public safety in their local parks and libraries, and the lack of shade and transportation in some areas.
Several strong contenders hope to win the seat this election cycle. Portia Riggins and Steven Brown are the native East Austinites of the group, and both have deep roots in the community. Riggins, who has experience working at Texas REALTORS, the Travis Central Appraisal District, and Austin 311, stressed the need to coordinate social services to address mental health and substance abuse challenges.
“I came from a low-income family, public housing, not seeing improvements,” Riggins said. “These underserved inner communities in District 1 … we can pour back into them and actually have someone who knows where these neighborhoods are.”
Brown, a fourth-generation Austinite, healthcare professional, and neighborhood youth football coach, told us he advocated for the Austin Fire Department to hire more Black firefighters after what many claimed to be a discriminatory hiring season in 2012. “I think that we really need to start with community engagement and being radically transparent,” he said.
Brown led efforts to defeat Proposition Q back in November as the Democratic co-chair for PAC Save Austin Now. “My friends and family can’t afford to see a 20% tax increase. These things led to gentrification and the destabilization of my community,” Brown said. He also discussed rent-subsidizing programs to make vacant affordable units more deeply affordable.
Anderson has lived in Austin since 2005 as an ex-UT and Nike sprinter, small-business owner, chair of the city’s Commission for Women, and longtime community advocate in East Austin. Considering District 1 is so large, Anderson proposed breaking it up into four quadrants and setting up “community advisory committees” in each to help bring neighborhood issues to the city’s attention, “including existing housing, upcoming development, infrastructure gaps, transit access, sidewalks, drainage, and stormwater concerns,” she wrote to the Chronicle.
In addressing homelessness, Anderson believes that the city needs to collaborate with the organizations that are already doing the work. “They’re already touching hundreds of people weekly, all around the city,” she said. “It’s being able to rely on their knowledge about what’s working and what’s not working, and then helping to push policy from that standpoint.”
Other candidates bring different kinds of expertise to the table. Amber Goodwin is a former attorney in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and a longtime labor organizer and union member, as supported by her Texas AFL-CIO endorsement. She’s also the founder of a minority-led gun violence prevention nonprofit that has advocated for successful gun safety bills.
With District 1 stretching toward Manor, Del Valle, and Pflugerville, Goodwin emphasized that an even stronger city connection to Travis County funding and resources is needed at City Hall – and she’s already built those county-level relationships at the D.A.’s Office.
“I want to work with our county partners, put together a meeting, and look at where there’s already county support for things like Integral Care, for Central Health … and how we can best serve the people who have the most need, including mental health services for the people who are unhoused,” Goodwin said. “I want to have a real focus on healthcare access, and start to build a community health hub.”
When it comes to fundraising, Goodwin raised over $91,000 in the first six months of the year – more than all the other candidates combined. Anderson and Misael Ramos raised the second and third highest amounts, respectively. (In the most recent Oct. 5 filing, Goodwin retained her lead as Ramos moved into second, dropping Anderson to third.)
Ramos, endorsed by the National Democratic Socialists of America, is the president of his neighborhood association and former chair of the Blackland Community Development Corporation, where he supported affordable housing development. He was also recently arrested for participating in a protest against ICE’s Sept. 20 shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez.
Ramos said he doesn’t agree with how Council has addressed housing, calling their strategy “market driven.” He questioned if the city’s Home Options for Mobility and Equity zoning changes, passed by Council starting in 2023, have actually led to more affordable housing in East Austin.
“The majority of HOME developments are here in East Austin, and they’re not affordable. They’re being done by LLCs and other groups, and not by the families that live here,” Ramos said. “We need to be more intentional about who we’re building for, and how those affordability rates and land value appreciations impact people who are already here.”
Ramos also has publicly advocated against state takeover of Austin ISD, and for the potential reuse of historic and soon-closing Blackshear Elementary as a childcare or community center.
Michael Nahas is an economist and previously served on Austin’s Economic Prosperity Commission. He told the Chronicle he has studied the city’s housing and would want to tackle the budget if elected. He pointed us to the amount of money Austin owes to pension funds. He has not fundraised or block-walked as part of his campaign, rather funding himself.
“[District 1 residents] want more affordability, lower rents. They want lower taxes. … And people want the city government to spend money better,” Nahas emphasized. “And so, based on that, I decided to run.”
Every candidate expressed wanting to bring their skills to Council that may otherwise be absent. To name a few, Ramos said he would be Council’s housing expert; Nahas is an expert on finance; Brown brings his knowledge as a healthcare worker; Riggins has experience working with data from her accounting background; Goodwin is deeply knowledgeable about public safety; and as a city commission member, Anderson is an advocate for maternal health.
But whose skills and background would represent the most valuable addition to City Council? That’s up to their neighbors.
This article appears in October 9 • 2026.
