AUSTIN, Texas — With half of Austin voters choosing a City Council member in this midterm election, the race for District 1 is drawing attention as six candidates compete to replace the term-limited incumbent, Natasha Harper-Madison.

District 1 stretches up the east side of Austin into North Austin. In a crowded field, the six candidates are Alexandria Anderson, Steven Brown, Amber Goodwin, Michael Nahas, Misael Ramos and Portia Riggins.

All six were asked about balancing the city budget with less money coming in.

Anderson said the city needs to be candid with residents about financial constraints. “Well, I think, first and foremost, you’re being honest with the people. I tell people, and when I’ve been meeting with them, I was like, we are dealing with an economic issue from the federal level on down,” Anderson said. She added that “a lot of the projects or programs that we initially wanted to see come out or were here that were flourishing may have to be put on a pause,” while emphasizing that “that doesn’t mean that it’s going to last forever, but it’s just being honest with folks.”

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Brown, a fourth-generation Austinite, pointed to the size of the city’s budget and questioned spending priorities. “You know, $6.6 billion is a lot. I think we should be focused on our community members’ priorities,” Brown said. He also raised concerns about consulting spending, saying, “With us giving out $279 million in consulting before this audit comes out, we really need to see what’s going on and where our tax dollars are going and where we can be most efficient.”

Goodwin, a Travis County assistant district attorney, said she is involved in litigation tied to federal funding. “Right now I’m in the middle of a lawsuit on behalf of many community-based organizations in East Austin fighting to get those federal funds back from the Trump administration,” Goodwin said. She added, “But I also think that we need to figure out other ways to balance our budget.”

Nahas said he is running with a focus on city finances and debt. “I’m running because the city has borrowed $3.1 billion from the pension fund,” Nahas said. “The interest on that debt is about $450 per family in Austin every year, and the city is borrowing more money this year, $32 million more.” He said his background includes economics and finance and that he previously served as chair of the Economic Prosperity Commission. “I’m an expert on this. I figured my skills would be useful on city council, so I decided to run,” Nahas said.

Ramos, who was arrested at protests the day Wilber Garces Perez was shot by an ICE agent, said he wants more accountability in city spending. “We can be more accountable on how we’re currently spending our dollars,” Ramos said. He cited consulting contracts, saying, “We spent about 280 million on contracts for consultants, but we haven’t actually seen what those results have come out to,” and said he wants to ensure funding can be used “to actually pour back into our social services and other roles within our city.”

Riggins said her campaign has centered on the city budget and looking for investments. “I’m going to look into investments and finding investments,” Riggins said. “My priority in this campaign has been looking at the city budget.”