Who's running for Austin City Council District 7? Meet Mike Siegel

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After no one candidate secured more than 50% of the vote in November for Austin City Council's open District 7 seat, the top two candidates, Mike Siegel and Gary Bledsoe, will head to a runoff this December. KXAN did sit-down interviews with both candidates.

Here's what you need to know about the runoff:

• Only District 7 residents are allowed to vote in this race
• Dec. 2: Early voting begins
• Dec 3: Last day to apply for ballot by mail
• Dec. 10: Last day of early voting
• Dec. 14: Election Day

Here is a transcript of most of KXAN's conversation with Siegel.

KXAN City Hall reporter Grace Reader: First, if I could just have you start by introducing yourself.

Siegel: I'm Mike Siegel. I'm a progressive Democrat, running for city council. I started my career as a public school teacher 25 years ago. I worked in public education for nearly a decade, and the last 15 years I've been a civil rights lawyer, both in private practice as well as an Austin city attorney. And I'm running for city council to make progressive change in our community. I want to take strong action on climate change, build more housing, expand our mass transportation system and really represent the people of this community.

Reader: Talk about why you decided to run now.

Siegel: I was inspired by a lot of reasons to run. One is my family. We're deeply embedded in this community. My wife owns a veterinary business on Burnet Road. My kids go to public schools. And really, in this moment of history, we see how important the Austin City Council is. A lot of people in Austin right now are very disturbed by the presidential election, and they're wondering what the next four years is going to look like. But I know from my experience at city hall that the city council and our city government is, in fact, the most important government agency in the lives of people of Austin. There's a lot of good we can do, whether it's paving the roads, providing after-school programs, building housing, through our electric utility building renewable power generation. There's so much our city can do for the community, and I think based on my background, experience, both as a community organizer and as someone who worked at city hall as the city attorney, I could be a very effective representative.

Reader: Talk about your priorities and what you want folks to know you'll get done.

There's a lot going on at city hall right now. You know, one of my top priorities is climate action, and that encompasses a whole host of actions and strategies our city can take on, whether it's through Austin electric making sure we have, you know, sufficient power supply in our region, but also it's renewable power, so we're not polluting the planet and worsening climate change. Building housing is a huge one, both for worker fairness reasons and climate reasons. I've spoken to nurses, teachers, electrical workers who are serving our community every day but can't afford to live in this community, and that's a big priority for me. Frankly, making sure we have a suitable public transit system is also a big priority. You know, our voters passed Project Connect because we want light rail. We want expanded bus service, and making sure that gets implemented is a big priority because it will make us more ecologically responsible, but also decrease the cost of living for people if they can take mass transit to work instead of having car insurance and so forth. So those are some of the big ones.

Reader: What do you think makes you the most distinct from the man that you're running against?

I think two things really distinguish me. One is my organizing experience here in the city of Austin over the last 10 years as a city attorney. I was involved for several years advising the city council and mayor, writing ordinances and going to court for this city, and that really got me involved with a lot of different issues and organizations.

For example, I sued Greg Abbott to stop a 2017 anti-immigrant law and worked with the community. As part of that lawsuit, I helped start an organization called Ground Game Texas that in 2021 helped decriminalize marijuana and passed other reforms for the city of Austin...I've been involved with issues like suing Greg Abbott to allow for mask rules during the COVID pandemic, and all of these things go into my background as an organizer, as someone who's helped build coalitions, worked with a variety of groups to pass progressive policy. I think the other big thing for me is specific city hall experience, and that's where having been at city hall, having written policy, advised the council and city manager, gone to court, I really know how to get things done in the city. I know some of the potential roadblocks with navigating, for example, conflicts or potential conflicts between state and local law. I know how much we can do locally without basically running afoul of the state legislature. And I think that experience would be very useful.

Reader: Finally, what is your pitch to voters right now, when you're out door knocking and talking to folks, what are you telling them?

Well certainly my background has prepared me to be an effective representative, and I think a lot of people appreciate that, whether it started my career as a school teacher, having been in the city attorney [office], having done a lot of coalition work, I think people respect that. But I also think what's on a lot of voters' minds right now is as we face a Trump presidency and having Greg Abbott in the State House, is who do you want on council to fight for you? Because I think people are concerned that a lot of vulnerable communities are going to be under attack, and they want a council that's going to stand up for our values. You know, Austin is a welcoming city, we're a progressive city, we're a majority Democratic city, and I think people want strong leadership in this time of crisis coming up.