Five Council members push Garza-Garza ticket

Five members of Austin City Council, led by Greg Casar, have posted a letter online urging voters to cast ballots for Delia Garza and José Garza, running for the Democratic nomination for Travis County attorney and district attorney, respectively. In addition to Casar, Council members Pio Renteria, Jimmy Flannigan, Natasha Harper-Madison and Paige Ellis hope to give a boost to their colleague and to José Garza, “because a new vision for justice and safety is worth fighting for.” In line with their directions to the city manager to cut police officer positions and eliminate arrests for misdemeanor possession of marijuana, among other things, the five Council members say in their letter, “We need real fairness. We need community accountability for harm, including for police officers that break the rules. And we need real healing that makes us all safer.” District Attorney Margaret Moore has emphasized her lengthy legal experience – though she has only been at the helm of the DA’s Office for the past 3.5 years. Moore started the civil rights division within the District Attorney’s Office and has the backing of NAACP leader Nelson Linder, but is probably facing an uphill battle in this difficult year. Council members Leslie Pool and Ann Kitchen has endorsed Delia Garza’s opponent, Laurie Eiserloh. Pool and Mayor Steve Adler both endorsed Moore some time ago. Former Mayor Bruce Todd is serving as Moore’s campaign treasurer. Casar sent an email to supporters asking them to sign up for a phone bank to get out the vote for José Garza. He told the Austin Monitor that 41 people had signed up to phone bank on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. While there was considerable enthusiasm back in March for voting in the Democratic primary, Covid-19 has taken its toll on people’s willingness to get out and vote. In addition, many students who might have voted for the two Garzas in the runoff that was originally scheduled for May have left town. Longtime political consultant Dean Rindy, who is working for Eiserloh and Moore, told the Monitor, “This is an older, more Democratic Biden-type electorate and that will help those two candidates.” Early voting continues through Friday and election day is next Tuesday, July 14.

This whisper has been corrected to reflect the fact that Council Member Ann Kitchen has not endorsed a candidate in the county attorney race.