![\"Misael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Misael-Ramos-150x150.jpg\")
Misael Ramos<\/p>\nMisael Ramos<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a leader who listens, organizes, builds, and speaks up,\u201d Misael Ramos recently told a group of students at Huston-Tillotson University.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s also his pitch to District 1 voters, and Ramos says it comes from experience. Many of the pressures East Austin families face today, he faced growing up.<\/p>\n
His story resonated with students and many residents in East Austin.<\/p>\n
Ramos was born in Dallas, the son of a Black American father and an Afro-Latin immigrant mother. He and his younger brother were raised by working-class parents who did their best to give their sons a meaningful life. The family later moved to Denton and then Carrollton, where they lived in low-income housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarrollton was interesting because we stayed at an affordable housing complex, and it\u2019s a fun fact, the complex was owned by Foundation Communities,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n
Foundation Communities is an Austin-based nonprofit that runs affordable apartment communities in Austin and North Texas and offers free programs for the people who live there.<\/p>\n
After high school, Ramos came to Austin to attend Austin Community College and later Texas State University. His first job after graduating led him into the work that would shape his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ended up working for a mortgage company, from that mortgage company, I ended up doing foreclosure prevention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ramos has now lived in Austin for more than two decades, he said. Much of that time he has spent organizing in East Austin neighborhoods facing displacement and rapid redevelopment, working to preserve affordable housing and to support residents hit hardest by rising costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only did I come from a working-class family, but then a lot of the work I\u2019ve done has been connected with working-class families as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A second run<\/p>\n
![\"Natasha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Natasha-Harper-Madison-150x150.png\")
Natasha Harper-Madison<\/p>\n
This is Ramos\u2019 second campaign for the District 1 seat. In 2022 he ran a four-month campaign centered on community connectivity and cultural preservation, and he won 25% of the vote, he said. Then incumbent Natasha Harper-Madison won, but is term-limited from running this election cycle.<\/p>\n
This time, he says, he has had years, not months, to build support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I doubled down on community organizing since 2022 and now. And that has completely given me a lot of support because I feel like I\u2019m even deeply rooted, even more so,\u201d Ramos said.<\/p>\n