Former Council candidate, activist dies

This week the Reform Alliance, a national justice reform organization, confirmed the death of Lewis Conway Jr. The East Austin native was an ordained minister, author and an advocate for the formerly incarcerated after serving a prison sentence for a fatal stabbing in the early 1990s. Conway ran for the District 1 City Council seat in 2018, challenging rules barring those with felony convictions from holding public office. He would later advocate for the city’s adoption of Fair Chance Hiring, and most recently worked as a national campaign strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. At yesterday’s City Council meeting, Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison, who ran against Conway in 2018, remembered someone she considered a friend. “I hope we take the opportunity to remember him fondly and count our blessings every day,” she said.