The following candidates (in no specific order) came together for the first time in one room at the Austin Board of Realtors forum on Wednesday 3/11:

  • David A. Buttross, 39, real estate investor
  • Josiah James Ingalls, 28, a Hilton houseperson
  • Lee Leffingwell, 69, Austin City Council Member
  • Brewster McCracken, 43, Attorney (Austin City Council Member)
  • Carole Keeton Strayhorn, 69, founder and president of Our Texas Grandchildren Foundation

It certainly is too early to guess what will happen with this race….one poll shows Strayhorn ahead of favored council members McCracken and Leffingwell. The issues are many with the current economy and if you look back at the data when Will Wynn was elected, only 9000 members of our community voted. This is dumbfounding to me for a city our size. There is a lot at stake and how fast we are able to come out of the down economy will certainly be decided by our city leaders. Who offers the foresight and leadership ability to create more jobs and have more business move to Central Texas? Which of these candidates has the ability to find the balance between growth and environment protection and mostly which of these candidates is willing to make the tough decisions and take ownership for running the council instead of hiring tons of consultants and passing responsibility off to the city manager? Truly, I encourage you to stay on top of this race and be informed and certainly to get out and vote…our city is too important to have the Mayor selected by a so few.  

Election day is May 9th, if there is a run off which many expect, it will take place on June 13th ~