AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After no one candidate in the Austin City Council District 7 race secured more than 50% of the vote in the general election, north Austin residents will head back to the polls to pick their city council member.
The two candidates who have made it to the runoff are Mike Siegel and Gary Bledsoe. KXAN did sit-down interviews with both.
Siegel received the highest number of votes during the general election. He's a civil rights lawyer and former Austin city attorney.
"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," Siegel told KXAN.
Bledsoe is a civil rights lawyer and head of the NAACP Texas.
"I've decided to run for District 7 for the Austin City Council because there is a need on the Austin City Council for common sense leadership and I have a great deal of experience in exemplifying to all that I can engage in public leadership that is common sense leadership," Bledsoe said.
While only District 7 residents will get to vote, the person picked will make decisions for all Austinites on topics like parks, public safety and roads.
"And remember when you are voting in local elections, you're also voting for representatives of the future. We look at Greg Casar, he started in city council, now he's representing us in the U.S. House of Representatives. So, these votes matter and who represents us is going to be the people who represent us for the future," said Brian Smith, a political science professor at St. Edward's University.
