Two candidates compete for Austin City Council District 8 after incumbent fails to qualify

October 17, 2026

Two familiar figures will contest the District 8 Austin City Council seat after incumbent Paige Ellis failed to gather enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Selena Xie and Jeffery Bowen are now the only names voters will see in the race.

District 8 spans West and Southwest Austin and serves more than 99,000 people. The area includes large public green spaces such as Zilker Park, the Barton Creek Greenbelt and the Violet Crown Trail, features both candidates say factor into the district's policy priorities.

Both Xie and Bowen identified natural disaster risk as a pressing concern for the district, citing vulnerability to wildfires and flooding because of its geography and undeveloped green areas.

The city recently adopted a budget that increases tax revenue by 3.5 percent, the maximum allowable without voter approval. Both candidates told KUT they favor examining city spending before raising taxes further. Xie said city employees can help identify savings and proposed expanding the municipal auditing team and conducting audits every five years. Bowen urged performance reviews to determine what programs are effective and where cuts can be made.

A $295 million bond package on the November ballot, which combines roughly $260 million for parks and $35 million for libraries, drew differing responses. Bowen opposed the package, pointing to the city's overall debt, undeveloped parkland and about $700 million in deferred maintenance, and said he wants a comprehensive review of parks budgeting. Xie backed the package, saying it would fund pool repairs, park infrastructure projects in District 8 including Zilker and Circle C, sidewalks and library investments such as the Hampton Branch.

On affordable housing, city and Housing Works data show District 8 has completed nearly 1,500 affordable units, roughly 20 percent of its goal and the second lowest rate among council districts; the district's median home price is about $680,000. Xie said the city should leverage its land, bond funding and state and federal partnerships to build more units. Bowen noted new apartment construction is helping, but he said environmental constraints and high land costs limit building options.

Both candidates said more must be done on homelessness. Bowen called for evaluating which programs successfully move people off the streets and for targeted prevention to keep people from becoming homeless. Xie, drawing on her EMS experience, highlighted gaps in access to medications, housing and services and expressed concern about people camping in wildfire-prone areas as a public safety risk.

The candidates discussed these issues in a KUT candidate forum, and the station posted the full conversation on its YouTube channel.