Spigner joins race for District 1 seat

Third-generation Austinite Reedy Spigner will be officially declaring his candidacy for the City Council District 1 seat today at the School House Pub on Manor Road. According to a press release from the candidate, Spigner’s party will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Kay Gourley, who answered the campaign’s phone on Wednesday, said that those working for Spigner’s election do not have titles but act collectively. In his press release, Spigner points out that his grandmother, Mildred Coleman Holloway, was prominent in Texas Democratic politics, helping to launch the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and the Black Austin Democrats. Mildred Holloway also served as an election judge for many years at her East Austin polling place at the David Chapel Church. Spigner earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Clark Atlanta University and a Master of Public Health from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He reports that he is currently completing a Ph.D. at Prairie View University. Spigner has worked as a policy analyst for the Texas Senate Committee on Jurisprudence and is currently a grant monitor for the Texas Attorney General’s Office. In addition to Spigner, there are four other announced candidates: Lewis Conway Jr., Vincent Harding, Natasha Harper-Madison and Mariana Salazar. After four years on the dais, incumbent Council Member Ora Houston decided not to run for re-election.