South Central Austin Edition | January 2026

Election

BY HALEY MCLEOD

Travis County Commissioner, Precinct 2, Democratic party KEY : *Incumbent

Reese Ricci Armstrong Occupation & experience: Student, student

Rick Astray- Caneda III Occupation & experience: Consultant and

Amanda Marzullo Occupation & experience: Candidate did not respond to Community Impact’s questionnaire.

Brigid Shea* Occupation & experience: Travis County Commissioner Precinct 2, County Commissioner

organizer, nonprot unionist, local young democratic-socialist organization chair, treasurer Jewish Voice for Peace Austin www.reesefortraviscounty.org

Researcher, 12 years government social service program design consulting, 5

since 2015, Austin City Council, Texas Clean Water Action, led Save Our Spring www.brigidshea.com

years leading Travis County www.rickforprogress.com

What will be your top priorities if you are elected?

My top priority is to build a county that allows everyone an aordable, dignied life. This looks like building social housing to lower rents, expanding Central Health to move towards universal healthcare, and making ambulances free to ensure nobody fears calling 911.

Health: Ensuring everyone gets inexpensive vaccines, especially COVID. Focusing on equity and prevention. Aordability: Building aordable housing by leveraging a new state law allowing us to turn unused commercial buildings into housing. Disaster Mitigation: Building a disaster prevention strategy with our community that ensures we have no more ood deaths.

Candidate did not respond to Community Impact’s questionnaire.

Aordability and climate resilience. I will accelerate the county’s electric eet transition, expand reclaimed water systems that save millions of gallons annually, strengthen wildre preparedness and evacuation planning, and continue delivering deeply aordable housing. These priorities protect natural resources, reduce long-term costs and strengthen Travis County’s long-term resilience.

What uniquely qualies you for this position?

As a relentless ghter and change maker, we’re organizing a movement for a county that ensures dignity for all. While our county plays corrupt insider politics, we need a reformer with the vision and experience to build a county for the working class instead of billionaires and corporations.

I spent 12 years working with the frontlines of government sta around the country, building programs that work for people—from a social service call center serving 1 million to a $19 million COVID recovery grant. I know how to lead communities to build government programs that work for all.

Candidate did not respond to Community Impact’s questionnaire.

I bring three decades of experience translating community priorities into eective local policy. I helped launch Texas Clean Water Action, led the Save Our Springs campaign, and have served on the Commissioners Court since 2015. My focus is on responsible stewardship, collaboration across perspectives and delivering practical solutions that improve residents’ daily lives.

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM